Science and Sorcery
by Albertson
Summary: When a pen pal of Jimmy's brings herself and her siblings to his dimenion seeking Jimmy's help, he is dragged into a multi-dimensional war with a magical entity. Worse still, his own villains get involved in the conflict. Meanwhile, Royal Woods most famous family, the Louds, have mysteriously vanished. How will their family and friends react?
1. Excursion

**Excursion**

It had been nearly a week since the end of the Michigan Flu crisis in Royal Woods. Many had fallen ill to Bill's bioweapon, and a handful of patients were brought to the brink of death. Lucy Loud, along with her younger sister Lana, and older sister Leni, were amongst those few. If a cure hadn't been found in time, thanks in part to the effort of other extra-dimensional travellers, the results would have been far more grave. When all was said and done, Lori Loud announced that there would be a sibling meeting at the end of the week, after everyone had recovered. Every single Loud sibling could guess what the topic would be. In the aftermath, Bill managed to regain physical form and was on the loose once again, an outcome everyone wanted to prevent. The night before, Lucy was finding sleep hard to come by.

Even though everyone had absolved her of any guilt, she still felt responsible for the whole mess. After all, it was she who found Bill's wand and used it to invoke terror under the guise of the Dread Mistress, which in turn empowered Bill enough to unleash the plague in the first place. When Lucy finally did go to sleep, she had a very strange dream. Again, she found herself in Edwin's castle, a prominent location in her favourite TV show, but instead of Bill greeting her, this time, a figure that looked like an older version of herself appeared instead. Lucy recognised her straight away.

"Great-grandma Harriet? What are you doing here?" Lucy asked.

"You know how your siblings are going to vote in tomorrow's meeting, right?" Harriet inquired.

"I do. They'll probably want to fight," Lucy guessed. Ever since the siblings fought off Bill with the help of Rosa Casagrande, there was much talk about formulating a plan of action. Lola, in particular, was eager for a second round with the newly reborn demon sorcerer.

"Do you really think that going after him will assuage your guilt? Or that you could even carry out the deed should you find him?" Harriet probed.

"Maybe not, but it's better than doing nothing," Lucy reasoned. Harriet sighed heavily.

"I see I am not going to be able to convince you or your siblings away from this rash, reckless act. So, the least I can do is prepare you for the threats you'll face. There are many spells in your arsenal that will prove useful in your quest," Harriet informed.

"Absolutely not. I never want to touch magic again," Lucy rejected.

"I can understand your aversion to the magical arts, considering your recent experience, but ask yourself this; what would've happened had you faced Bill without Mother Rosa's assistance?" Harriet posed. Lucy thought about this for a moment.

"I have to admit, without her, Bill would most likely have wiped us out," Lucy admitted.

"Precisely. Magic must defeat magic," Harriet responded.

"But how do I use it? I'm not the Dread Mistress anymore," Lucy pointed out.

"What would be the first thing your sister Lisa will tell you about energy?" Harriet quizzed. Lucy did not know how to answer that. "I see someone needs to pay attention in science class. She would tell you that it can neither be created nor destroyed. Magic operates in much the same way," Harriet explained.

"Meaning?" Lucy asked.

"When Bill first approached you, he didn't just transfer some of his own abilities to you, he also revitalised the dormant magic already inside you," Harriet finished.

"What dormant magic?" Lucy inquired, her curiosity now piqued.

"It's time for you to learn the family secret. You see, the Louds are a magical bloodline. All of your siblings possess the ability to wield magic on their own," Harriet confessed. Lucy had a hard time believing this.

"Is this one of Luan's jokes?" Lucy asked.

"Have you never wondered how Lynn could achieve feats even the most seasoned of athletes could only dream of? Or how Lana could eat the grossest of things and not end up in the ER? Or how Lisa could be as smart as she is?" Harriet probed.

"I put that all down to natural talent, or in Lana's case, pure luck," Lucy replied. Harriet scoffed at that last remark.

"We in the magical community know there is no such thing as luck," Harriet remarked.

"OK, say I believe you. How come we're not all flying around on broomsticks, waving magic wands or brewing potions?" Lucy asked.

"Do you remember the family recipe for baby formula?" Harriet directed.

"Yes, Dad says it's healthier than the store brand," Lucy answered.

"What he doesn't know is that it's a binding potion, my own special blend, passed down for generations because I didn't want my family put in danger by a magical lifestyle, one my Sisters have learned to embrace," Harriet replied.

"But you had no sisters," Lucy responded.

"No, I meant the Sisterhood of the Shining Light, the organisation I founded. I held the title of First Mother. Long ago, I started the Sisterhood as a first and last line of defence against beings like Bill. When I had a family of my own, I knew they would be endangered by that life, so I bound the powers of my children to keep them safe from harm. When Bill empowered you, it undid that potion's effects. Now, you are very much the sorcerer I was in my youth," Harriet exposited. Lucy initially had a hard time believing all of this, but she knew Harriet well enough to know she was no liar.

"But how?" Lucy probed.

"I can't tell you that right now," Harriet shot down.

"Why not?" Lucy asked.

"Because you're waking up," Harriet replied. True enough, a different voice started echoing around the halls.

"Hello. Earth to Luce, you there?" probed the familiar voice of Lucy's room-mate, Lynn Loud. Lucy then woke up in her and Lynn's bedroom.

"What?" Lucy said in a very tired voice.

"Lori called a sibling meeting. It starts in five minutes. Get the lead out," Lynn urged. Lucy wanted to go back to sleep really badly. She got the feeling that there was more Harriet needed to share.

"This had better be good," Lucy remarked to herself. As soon as she could muster the strength to get out of bed, she made her way to Lori and Leni's room. Although Lisa's cure for the sickness did its job, those affected were still weak for days after the initial infection. Consequently, Lucy, Lana, and Leni spent a lot of time in bed getting their strength back. When Lucy arrived, everyone else was there waiting for her.

"OK, let's not beat around the bush. We all know why we're here," Lori began the meeting.

"How to deal with Bill. Look, I, along with everyone else here, want a piece of him for what he did, but what you're proposing seems a little drastic," Lincoln observed. Lincoln had his reservations about what Lori proposed prior to the start of the meeting. She put the idea forward that, since Bill retreated to another world, that they should follow him and put a stop to whatever he had planned. Leni, however, was on Lori's side.

"But Lincoln, what if Bill does the same thing in another world as he did to this one? Wouldn't you feel compelled to help?" Leni argued.

"Curing diseases is one thing, fighting demon wizards is quite another. Besides, how will we even find him? He could be in any realm. Are we supposed to go world-hopping until we run into him?" Lincoln reasoned.

"I believe I have the answer to this predicament. My inter-dimensional pen pal should be able to provide adequate assistance in this matter," Lisa replied.

"This friend of yours ever deal with stuff like this before?" Luna inquired.

"Not this specific scenario, but he has had to deal with his fair share of villains in his dimension," Lisa responded.

"It's a start. Beats searching blindly," Lori concluded. Everyone nodded in agreement. "All in favour of asking Lisa's friend for help, say 'aye'," Lori added. Everyone said 'aye', even Lily, which got Lincoln's attention.

"Sorry, Lily, but you can't come with us," Lincoln said in a sympathetic tone, which earned a non-verbal cry of objection from the baby.

"Lincoln's right. Where we're going is too dangerous for you, Lily. You have to stay here," Lori agreed. More cries from Lily indicated the meeting was finished. Lori then turned to Lisa. "We'll wait until she's asleep, then we'll leave. It'll give us time to write our farewells. We may not be back here for a while," Lori advised.

"I'll get my inter-dimensional gateway ready. When I give the signal, everyone sneak out of their rooms and meet me in my bunker," Lisa instructed. Later that night, after Lily had been put down for the night, Lisa texted everyone to meet her in the bunker. Once everyone was assembled, the gateway was brought online. Lincoln then turned to the readers.

"I think you all know what happens here. Our journey begins. It'll be hard, but we can't just sit around doing nothing while others do the fighting. We want to do our part, no matter how small our contribution may be," Lincoln addressed the readers. He, along with his sisters, minus Lily, stepped through.

The Loud family arrived at the laboratory of Lisa's inter-dimensional pen pal. It looked like Lisa's, except bigger and with more space to work. The others could see why Lisa would want to spend time here, as there were experiments and analytical equipment stretching across the room. Bizarrely, no-one was home.

"Hmm, that's atypical. Usually, around this time, he'd be working on some big projects. Or maybe he's delving into some space travel to study some extra-terrestrial anomaly," Lisa observed.

"Your pen pal goes into space? Just what sort of brain box is he?" Lincoln asked.

"The kind that can help us track down Bill and work with some dangerous substances, so please don't touch anything," Lisa cautioned while Lincoln was itching to grab one such invention. It was at that moment that he took note of the plaque on the laboratory wall. The inscription said:

'This laboratory and everything in it is the sole property of J. I. Neutron'

"The initials stand for James Isaac, but he usually goes by the name Jimmy," Lisa informed.

"Well, it doesn't look like he's here right now. Maybe we should go out and try to find him," Luan suggested.

"Agreed, although we should keep contact with the locals to a minimum. I have his picture on my phone, so finding him shouldn't be too hard," Lisa concurred. She showed the family out of Jimmy's lab, using the guest exit.

Speaking of the boy genius himself, Jimmy was busy with an investigation of his own. He had been contracted, and by a phenomenon, they meant drafted, by the BTSO, or Big Top Secret Organisation, to get to the bottom of a phenomenon that saw other-worldly beings coming into this realm. Jimmy had been monitoring these events for some time before the BTSO even got wind of these happenings, something Jimmy wasted no time in telling them. When he got to the co-ordinates of the phenomena, which led them to a secluded part of the woods, he had noted that it was identical to the others he had seen on other planets.

"That's the third one this week. Where do these lesions keep coming from?" Jimmy asked himself.

"Who cares, let's just seal it like the others and be done with it. I need to get some sleep," Sheen rebutted. It was true what Jimmy said, he had seen two other inter-dimensional lesions similar to the one they were about to seal now. From what he could gather, they were rifts in the space-time continuum which could allow beings from other worlds to traverse the barriers between dimensions without the aid of a gateway. Most times, this happened by accident.

"Rough night, Sheen?" Carl asked.

"I had this really bad nightmare where I got into one of Jimmy's rockets and flung myself all the way to this no-where place called Zeenu, and you were some slug thing," Sheen recalled.

"That must've been terrible," Carl consoled.

"Yeah. Well, good thing it's over now," Sheen replied. After taking some readings with the help of his trusty robot dog, Goddard, Jimmy led the others further into the woods.

"Apparently, this rift leads to the Gorlock homeworld, and that a group of them passed through here not too long ago," Jimmy outlined.

"Wasn't that April girl from Gorlock? You know, the one that was really into you," Sheen recalled.

"Yes, but she knows I'm officially off the market. We're just good friends, that's all," Jimmy dismissed. Between his encounters with the buck-tooth boy in pink with the fairy-like computer programs and some coaxing from Nick, Jimmy finally did pluck up the courage to ask Cindy if they could do away with their 'love-hate' thing and become an official coupling. To no-one's surprise except Jimmy, Cindy agreed, although the two were still yet to go on their first date.

Bringing the group back to the task at hand, they could hear what sounded like a hunting party getting closer. They barely had time to move before the Gorlocks surrounded them. At their head was one Jimmy recognised. It was April.

"Jimmy, this is a nice surprise. I never thought I'd see you again after dealing with Meldar," April greeted.

"It's nice to see you, too. But we have no time for cozy chit-chat. We need to get your group back through the rift before my people come through here with weapons. The rift you came through isn't the first one that's cropped up," Jimmy explained.

"That will be a hard sell. There's not a lot here bigger than the Gorlocks. On Earth, they'd be the top of the food chain," April advised. Just then, the Huntmaster addressed Jimmy directly.

"You, child. I recognise you. The way it is told, without you, there would be no Gorlock. You have the eternal gratitude of my people for your heroism that day," the Huntmaster acknowledged.

"Jimmy, meet my dad," April introduced.

"Charmed, but you really must lead your people back through the rift to your home. Our government has taken notice of the intrusions and they will be here soon," Jimmy pressed.

"We do not wish war with your people, and the hunt here poses little in the way of challenge. Very well, we will depart. Give me five minutes to gather the party," the Huntmaster resolved. Jimmy then turned to April.

"By any chance, are the matrix generators I gave you causing these rifts?" Jimmy inquired. April showed Jimmy the generators she kept on her at all times. Jimmy looked them over and found that they were not responsible for the anomalies.

"I haven't found a way to use them since you gave them to me, nor would I wish to. Are you sure you don't want them?" April asked.

"Positive. They're in good hands with you," Jimmy answered.

"Alright. I'll be sure to send you a message should another rift appear on our planet. Maybe next time you'll come to us," April invited.

"That would be fascinating," Jimmy considered her offer. As the hunters all gathered up to venture through the rift they came from, April waved goodbye one last time before going through herself. Jimmy then proceeded to seal the rift using another one of his gadgets.

"Time to go home, gentlemen," Jimmy indicated.

"About time, I need a nap," Sheen replied.

Back at the Neutron family back yard, Cindy and Libby were approaching Jimmy's lab. Cindy had a brilliant idea for a first date. Retroland was offering a two-for-one deal as a promotion for their newest attraction. Funnily enough, it was a video arcade with games that all had the same plot; save Retroville from being destroyed by any one of Jimmy's inventions.

"So, your idea of a first date is playing games that retell all of your beau's screw-ups?" Libby probed.

"I want to see how they dramatize it, plus it might make Jimmy think more about what he's inventing and the damage it can cause," Cindy replied.

"Wouldn't a movie or a dinner date have done just fine?" Libby asked.

"Those are so overdone. I want to be the kind of girlfriend that does something unique, something that all those other girls that had their eye on him couldn't imagine in their dizziest daydreams," Cindy answered.

"And by 'all those other girls', you only mean Betty and the green chick. One, Betty's already backed off, and two, you made sure Jimmy made it clear you were his. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous," Libby teased.

"I am not jealous!" Cindy denied.

"Sure you aren't," Libby replied sarcastically

"I'm not! What would I have to be jealous of? It's not like there's a line of girls coming out of Jimmy's lab," Cindy remarked, flustered. That was when Libby saw something that made her mouth shoot open. "What?" Cindy probed when she saw this. Cindy turned around and saw a line of unknown girls come out of Jimmy's lab, all of varying ages, by the look of them. The oldest looked to be in her late teens, while the youngest was clearly in kindergarten. There was even a single boy with them. One of the girls began to speak.

"So, the plan is to search this town of a couple hundred residents for one boy genius. If we're going to search for a needle in a haystack, I'd like a magnet," Lana outlined.

"He usually frequents the eatery known as the Candy Bar or retreats to the local library to think over his latest invention. We should split up to cover more ground," Lisa briefed.

"I call the Candy Bar!" Lola immediately volunteered.

"Don't get chocolate sprinkles. They're really ants," Lisa warned, which made Lola almost gag, while Lana was salivating in anticipation. Finding the will to speak once again, Cindy made her presence known.

"Can we help you?" Cindy asked, more annoyed than curious as to their presence. Lisa turned to face the girl who spoke up and examined her closely.

"Hmmmm, blonde hair, green clothing, volatile temperament, you must be Cindy Vortex. Jimmy mentions you very frequently," Lisa noted.

"Oh, I'm sure he does, and I don't have a volatile temperament!" Cindy yelled, which caused Libby to step in.

"Chill, girl. I'm sure there's a rational explanation for this. We'll just call Jimmy here and you can kill him when he arrives," Libby reasoned.

"Please don't. We came here to ask him something. We can't do that if he's dead," Leni pleaded. Everyone collectively sighed.

"If you could summon my fellow scientist, it would really be a big help," Lisa requested.

"Great, just what this town needs, another genius. I'll call him," Cindy agreed.

"Don't mind her, she's really a sweet girl. It's just her and Jimmy only just recently became a thing and seeing a load of girls come out of his lab puts all kinds of crazy thoughts in her head," Libby attempted to defuse the tension.

"We literally get it. But our visit is important, and we really do need Jimmy's help," Lori replied.

"In the meantime, I love what you've done to your hair," Leni complimented Libby's hair.

"Thanks, it's an Egyptian style. If we have time, I could show you, girl, and maybe then you could show me how you rock those sunglasses," Libby responded.

"Deal," Leni enthusiastically agreed, like she found a new best friend.

Back at the woods, Jimmy had just finished seeing off the Gorlock hunting party when Goddard came running up to him. He then opened up his display screen and it indicated that he had an incoming call. Jimmy pressed the 'accept' option and Cindy's face appeared.

"Jimmy, by any chance, were you expecting guests?" Cindy inquired.

"No, why?" Jimmy replied.

"Well, guess what? You got ten!" Cindy exclaimed. She turned her phone around so Jimmy could see what was happening. He could make an educated guess as to who these strangers were, but he had to be sure.

"Is one of them named Lisa?" Jimmy probed. Cindy then asked the Louds which one was Lisa. She then gave her phone to the kindergartener.

"Apologies for the intrusion, old friend, but an urgent matter has arisen that necessitates us to speak in person," Lisa addressed Jimmy. The other Louds then all tried to get a glimpse of Lisa's friend.

"That's Jimmy Neutron? When you told us you had a pen pal, I was expecting someone a little younger," Luna observed.

"I don't know. I mean he does look like the type everyone picks last in Gym class," Lynn stated.

"Jimmy, who are these girls?" Carl asked.

"Yeah, how come you didn't tell us you had beautiful ladies stashed away in your lab somewhere?" Sheen probed.

"I am going to pretend I didn't hear that," Libby shot back at Sheen.

"I'll be there in five minutes," Jimmy informed, and the three, plus Goddard were in Jimmy's hovercar, heading back to his lab with all haste. What they didn't know was that all the while, a cloaked figure was observing them from the shadows.

"So, that is this world's defender? I expected more," the figure stated. Another anonymous observer then emerged to approach the cloaked figure. This one had a more 'evil scientist' look.

"You wouldn't be the first to go after Neutron. He has a habit of thwarting evil plans wherever he goes," the scientist responded. This piqued the cloaked one's curiosity.

"You know this boy?" the robed figure asked.

"Know him? He's my sworn enemy, and I can tell you he has a lot of those!" the scientist answered.

"Really? Then perhaps we should talk more. The name is Bill, by the way. I'm a new arrival to these parts, but I'm eager to cause some mayhem," Bill introduced.

"Professor Finbarr Calamitous, at your service. Would you care to discuss Neutron at my lair?" Calamitous invited.

"That would be lovely. I want to know everything there is about this boy," Bill accepted the invitation, and the two departed for Calamitous' lair.

Meanwhile, back at Royal Woods, the Loud parents were getting up to start the day, when Lynn Sr. noted that something seemed off. It took a second or two to realise what it was, but when he couldn't hear anything, he came to a conclusion. The Loud House was never this quiet, especially in the morning. He called out to his kids, but when he got no response, he walked into the living room and saw a note on the table. He picked it up and read the contents. What he read terrified him:

'Dear Mum and Dad

By the time you read this, we will have already left. After recent events, we all came to realise that we could not just sit idly by while others did the fighting, not if we could help, in any way. We have gone to find Bill and get justice for what he did to our town, our family, and our friends. We may not be back for some time, and we also fully acknowledge that, in the worst-case scenario, we may not come back at all. But we have to do this. Something told us that we were meant to. We have left Lily behind so that, if something should happen, she can carry on the family line. We love you, Mum and Dad.

The Loud children'

Lynn Sr. passed the note to Rita, who was also shocked at the contents.

"I told them not to," Rita whispered to herself.

Author's note: Here we are, the first story of the New Year. Hope you enjoy it. I had a little trouble coming up with a decent title for this one, and I also had to play catch-up, as I haven't written for the Louds in months. Also, I am one of those fans that really wants a Season 4 of Jimmy Neutron, and please forgive me shrugging off Planet Sheen as a bad dream. I like to keep things in line with the canon of the show, but I really don't want to acknowledge the existence of that train-wreck of a show, so this one time, I am exercising author's prerogative and forgetting about it entirely. The usual disclaimers, I own nothing. Jimmy Neutron and the Loud House belong to Nickelodeon. Enjoy.


	2. Forging alliances

**Forging alliances**

In Excalibur HQ, the discussion of building a suitable fighting force against the resurrected Bill had come to a close. All present agreed that what they had now was insufficient, they needed more. Albert had the idea to go to other dimensions to seek assistance, and he knew where to go first. Moon and Eclipsa were initially against the idea of going back to the Uncharted Realms, but given the severity of the current threat, they had no choice but to accept the decision. Kilstone, Albert's XO, was preparing the dimensional portal for the journey.

"I still don't get why Mewni hates these realms so much. What's their deal?" Kilstone asked.

"Mewni doesn't necessarily hate the Uncharted Realms, they just have different opinions on the subject of magic. More specifically, who gets to wield it. The High Commission sought to keep magic in check by making sure only the Butterfly family gets to use it, whereas, in the Uncharted Realms, magic is free for anyone to use, but is still heavily regulated," Albert explained.

"But magic is gone. Those opinions don't matter now," Kilstone argued.

"Maybe so, but that has been the way for a long time now. Even with the current threat, social engineering such as that cannot easily be undone," Albert responded.

"What about the sorcerers of these realms? Will they work with Mewmans?" Kilstone inquired.

"Most likely they've never heard of Mewmans or Mewni itself. Besides, from one magic user to another, they may help us," Albert reasoned. Albert was hoping that there would be more like Rosa Casagrande and her Sisters. The portal came to life with a flash, indicating that it was ready for travel.

"Co-ordinates set for Great Lakes City," Kilstone informed.

"You're in charge until I get back. You know how to reach me if anything comes up," Albert stated.

"Good luck, Captain," Kilstone wished, and Albert stepped through. As soon as he fully entered Great Lakes City, Albert felt strange. A mild, stinging sensation was permeating through his body. He had felt this before, in the Second Dimension, where Bill, in Doofenshmirtz-2's body, reforged his cheek marks onto his face. He found a reflective surface and saw that those same marks, which had vanished when he came back to the Institute after the dimensional fusion, had returned. On a hunch, he tried transforming into his Butterfly form, and to his surprise, it actually worked.

"OK, this is getting weird," Albert commented. There was little time to dwell on this since Albert had a more pressing concern to address.

Back at Retroville, Jimmy was being hounded by questions from Carl and Sheen on the hovercar ride over to his lab about the Loud family. Who were they? How did Jimmy know one of them? Why were they here now? As soon as they arrived, Sheen got a look at them and a huge grin could be seen on his face.

"Do thine eyes deceive me? Can it be?" Sheen wondered in child-like bemusement. He ran over to them and got on his knees. "Oh, great one! I bow before your royal magnificence," Sheen added. He then started bowing before Lincoln, who grew increasingly uncomfortable.

"OK, what?" Libby asked, not knowing if she really wanted to hear the answer.

"Don't you see? This is the Ice Prince Blizzarum from Ultra Lord episode #231, The Planet of the Snow People. Just look at his white hair, and these must be his many wives," Sheen answered, referring to Lincoln's older siblings. Lincoln groaned in half disgust, half confusion.

"My name is Lincoln and these are my sisters!" Lincoln clarified. Carl then started counting them all with his finger.

"All of them?" Carl probed. Lincoln nodded in response. "Wow, the bathroom line must get pretty long," Carl commented.

"I see, using a fake name and story because you're incognito. Don't worry, Your Highness, your secret is safe with me," Sheen assured while giving a wink. Lincoln's expression was one of extreme annoyance.

"Not that I'm not pleased to see you, Lisa, but I have to ask, what are you doing here, and why did you bring your many siblings?" Jimmy inquired.

"I think this is a discussion we'd best have in your laboratory. Suffice to say, this is not a social call," Lisa replied.

"I'd almost be disappointed if it were," Jimmy responded.

"Hold on a minute, some introductions would be nice," Cindy interjected.

"Oh, of course, now let me see if I've got this right," Jimmy guessed. "Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and, oh, you appear to be short one. Where's Lily?" Jimmy introduced the Loud siblings in birth order.

"Given the circumstances of our arrival here, we thought it best to leave our baby sibling out of this," Lisa answered.

"I see, well, this is Carl," Jimmy gestured towards Carl, who waved nervously. "You've already met Sheen," Jimmy indicated in Sheen's direction.

"Proud to serve as honour guard to the Ice Prince," Sheen stated. Lincoln sighed heavily and facepalmed, wondering to himself how long this was going to go on for.

"My girlfriend, Cindy," Jimmy continued.

"That's right, Jimmy's mine, and don't you forget it," Cindy asserted.

"You literally have nothing to worry about from us, Cindy. I have Boo-boo bear, Luan has Benny, and Luna has Sam," Lori assured.

"OK, calm down, girl. No need to blow a blood vessel," Libby soothed.

"And that's Libby, Cindy's bestie," Jimmy concluded.

"Seriously, Lori, you call your beau 'Boo-boo Bear'? That's so cheesy," Libby commented.

"It's cute," Lori rebuffed. Libby responded by making the 'finger down the throat' motion.

"Anyway, we should return to your lab. We have much to discuss," Lisa directed and they all went back inside.

Back at Calamitous' lair, Professor Calamitous was just finished giving Bill the scoop on Jimmy Neutron. From what he was told, Bill got the impression that Jimmy was just another 'genius' he could potentially trick into doing what he wanted, and that he could manipulate him the same way he did Rick Sanchez, Stanford Pines, Perry Flynn, and his son, Phineas. To Bill, deceiving those of supposed higher intelligence was child's play.

"You say this kid invents all manner of gadgets. Tell me, has he ever dabbled in inter-dimensional travel?" Bill inquired.

"As a matter of fact, he has. I know he has at least one gateway in his lab somewhere, but he keeps that locked tight," Calamitous answered. This got Bill's attention. If Jimmy had already created an inter-dimensional gateway, there would be no need for his usual trickery. Good thing too, because, if past experience was anything to go by, when the inventors did catch on, they usually destroyed their creations or hid them away before Bill could use them. He would have to play this hand a bit differently this time.

"What if I told you I wanted to acquire it?" Bill wondered.

"Whatever for?" Calamitous replied, his curiosity piqued.

"Let's just say I need it for an experiment of my own," Bill gave a rather evasive answer.

"Well, I am always up for sticking it to Neutron, but breaking into his lab will not be easy," Calamitous observed.

"Do we have allies in this dimension?" Bill inquired.

"Neutron has a lot of enemies. We tried the whole 'team up to take him down' thing once before, did not end well," Calamitous responded.

"That was because you didn't have me around. I can help you deal with the boy. All I want in return is his gateway. When we have Neutron at our mercy, you can do with him what you will, for all I care," Bill bargained.

"Gathering my old colleagues together will take time," Calamitous informed.

"I'm a patient being. Besides, I'll need to do some scouting around first. There is a lead I want to pursue," Bill stated. Unsure what he meant by this, Calamitous nevertheless got to work summoning the rest of the League of Villains.

Back at Jimmy's lab, Jimmy, Carl, Sheen, Cindy, Libby, and the Louds began to discuss the current situation and why they came to Retroville in the first place. To say Jimmy was sceptical and cautious would be an understatement. Before anyone could say anything else, Lucy was experiencing something strange. She started hearing a voice in her head, a voice she knew all too well.

"This boy's devices may be able to help you locate Bill. Fighting him is another matter entirely," Harriet commented.

"What the-" Lucy thought to herself.

"Don't be so surprised. You were always the one with the strongest connection to the spiritual plane. As you are now, you and your siblings stand no chance against Bill. Your powers need to be unleashed," Harriet guided.

"How?" Lucy asked mentally.

"It is no coincidence that Lisa and Jimmy ended up friends. He may be able to help unbind your powers. Fate has brought you together for this purpose," Harriet answered. Back to reality, Jimmy had doubts about what the Louds were requesting of him.

"Let me see if I understand this correctly. You came here to ask me to help you find and kill, not just defeat, mind you, but utterly destroy, the demon sorcerer who unleashed the plague on your home, friends, and loved ones?" Jimmy summarised.

"That's right, dude. Lisa told us you had experience dealing with villains of your own," Luna replied.

"OK, first of all, magic does not exist," Jimmy responded.

"This one believes in what he sees, as do all scientists. Maybe you should give him a demonstration," Harriet suggested in Lucy's head.

"Second, I don't seek out confrontations. I'm sure Lisa told you that my encounters with the bad guys are almost entirely reactionary, as in, either they come to me looking for trouble or I go off to stop their evildoing as it's happening. The last time I intentionally sought a confrontation, it didn't end well," Jimmy concluded.

"Actually, this is literally the first we've heard of you. Up until now, Lisa hasn't mentioned you once," Lori corrected.

"Come to think of it, Jim, you haven't mentioned Lisa either," Carl said.

"How did you two meet?" Leni wondered.

"Yes, I'd like to know this as well," Cindy added.

"Our purely platonic partnership began approximately six months ago," Lisa recalled.

Flashback begins

Lincoln was approaching the dining table and sat down to eat breakfast as per usual. Lisa noted that he looked like he hadn't slept that much. Normally, she wouldn't bother with such trivialities, but considering that when the sisters went into his room after they heard him screaming from a nightmare, he then started saying things like 'I'll never complain about having sisters again' and proceeded to smash Lori's watch, she was curious.

"Rough night?" Lisa probed.

"You could say that. Really bad nightmare," Lincoln responded.

"Care to tell me about it?" Lisa asked, half out of scientific curiosity, half sisterly concern. Lincoln then told her about the dream where all the sisters were brothers instead, and how Lisa herself invented a watch that could enable the wearer to travel between dimensions. When Lincoln finished telling his tale, Lisa was intrigued.

After school that day, Lisa went to her bunker to try and recreate the invention Lincoln described. While he wasn't able to tell her any specifics or how she came up with it in his dream, the theory was sound. The challenging part was being able to compress interdimensional travel technology into a package as small as a wrist-watch. After several failed attempts, Lisa opted instead to build a regular gateway. She then began to take recorded notes.

"After many trials and tribulations, I have succeeded in developing a portal between dimensions. However, since I am unsure if it is safe for organic tissue to pass through, I have constructed this probe to make the trip and send over telemetry," Lisa noted. She then deployed the probe and directed it through the gateway. Visual feed on her workstation was coming in. Based on Lincoln's description, she expected to see a copy of her own house, in what Lisa called the 'genderbent' universe. Instead, she saw a laboratory very much like her own, except way bigger and more elaborate.

"OK, not what I was going for, but I like what I'm seeing so far," Lisa said to herself. Her first instinct was to recall the probe and declare this experiment a failure, but she couldn't help but wonder who this laboratory belongs to. Whoever worked here was clearly a genius on the same level as Lisa, if not more advanced. She was eager to make contact. Her wish was about to come true when the probe detected a single life form, a boy, with ice-cream shaped brown hair, who had entered the laboratory. He was accompanied by what could only be described as a robotic dog, very well designed.

"His pet certainly has a lot more charm than Charles does," Lisa observed. She further studied the boy's movements. Lisa watched him as he worked on his latest invention.

"Just need to put the finishing touches on my Study Buddy Mark 3. Need to get this thing done in time for Carl's math test," the boy urged himself. His robot dog barked a few times. "Sheen? Please, this thing's a robot tutor, not a miracle worker. Besides, it won't be taking the test for Carl, it'll just help him to better retain the knowledge he needs to pass," the boy assured. Lisa couldn't help but want one of these things. The time she spent tutoring her siblings, Lisa thought, could be put to better use, and this invention would certainly be a big help. While the boy was working, the robot dog turned its head and discovered Lisa's probe. It barked even louder than before to get the boy's attention.

"What is it, Goddard?" the boy asked. When he turned to look, he too saw the probe. "What is that thing, and how did it get in here?!" the boy inquired, panic in his voice. Lisa then turned on the probe's communication equipment.

"My apologies for the intrusion, fellow scientist. This probe was built to determine whether or not it would be safe to travel across dimensions. There is no need for concern. I mean you no harm," Lisa assured. The boy then studied the probe with scientific curiosity.

"This thing is very advanced. Did you build this?" the boy probed.

"Yeah, along with the interdimensional gateway it came through," Lisa answered. The boy then noted the portal in his lab.

"How did I not notice that coming in?" the boy asked himself. He then had Goddard analyse the portal. "According to this, it should be safe for you to pass through," the boy concluded.

"You don't mind me popping over in person?" Lisa probed.

"Not at all. This lab is always open to us kids of science," the boy invited. Lisa then passed through the portal and emerged unharmed. The boy was surprised to see her, to say the least. "Forgive me, but I pictured you as somewhat older in my head," the boy commented. Lisa brushed this off.

"I get that a lot. Sadly, most people either underestimate or are unappreciative of my intellect. Being the family genius has its share of problems," Lisa said.

"Don't I know it. The name's Jimmy Neutron, and this is Goddard," Jimmy introduced.

"You named your dog after a famous roboticist? Impressive. The name's Lisa Loud, my world's only 4-year-old Nobel Prize winner," Lisa returned the introduction.

"Why don't I show you around? There's a lot I think you'll like," Jimmy offered.

"I'm not one for being overly sentimental, but I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship," Lisa replied.

Flashback ends

"Like the discovery of penicillin, this was the result of a happy accident. We've kept a dimensional comm line open ever since," Lisa finished her story.

"So, you went looking for a world where we're all male and instead found Jimmy? Talk about bonding with chemistry. You are like two beakers in a lab. Yeah, it's hard to come up with science puns," Luan joked, to everyone's annoyance.

"Is she always like that?" Cindy wondered.

"Be grateful you don't have to live with it," Lola replied. Just then, an alarm sounded in Jimmy's lab. His computer started showing images of a persistent problem Jimmy had been facing.

"Not another one. They're increasing in frequency," Jimmy noted.

"What seems to be the problem?" Lisa asked.

"This is the third reason I can't help you. I have my own problems. These rifts have been appearing all over town and I've been sealing them up while also dealing with whatever's come through," Jimmy answered.

"Did we cause this?" Lisa asked.

"No. I've been dealing with this for a week now," Jimmy assured Lisa.

"These rifts are a symptom of a much larger problem. I fear your mission here has become that much harder. Still, it would be worth your while to look into this," Harriet advised Lucy in her head. Lucy chose this moment to speak up at last.

"Can we help?" Lucy offered.

"I would like to get to the bottom of these rifts, and a second scientific opinion would be invaluable, but my hovercar doesn't have room for all of you," Jimmy took up Lucy's offer of assistance.

"Plus, there's a chance your rift problem and our Bill problem are connected," Lisa added.

"Less chat, more action. Let's get on with it, brainiacs," Lynn urged. Cindy, who had been eyeing Lynn for some time now, decided to approach her. Then, out of no-where, the two girls started sparring against each other. Both being proficient at self-defence, neither could land a hit. Jimmy was more concerned about them breaking something in their bout. Fortunately, they chose an empty space to do this. The Louds knew from experience not to dive in. Then, as suddenly as they started, they stopped, both girls gasping for breath when it was over.

"I like this one," Cindy complimented. Lynn smiled, returning the sentiment non-verbally.

"Can we go now?" Libby asked impatiently, and off they went. They decided to go on foot, because, as Jimmy noted, there was no room in the hovercar and there was no time to make adjustments. That could be handled later.

Back at Great Lakes City, Albert found himself in the Casagrande home. He was speaking to Rosa, the Mother of the Sisterhood of the Shining Light, about the proposal he had, the idea of a multi-dimensional alliance that would fight Bill and his forces.

"We're going to need all the help we can get. Bill doesn't usually stay silent like this unless he's biding his time, gathering his army together. He's planning something big, I can feel it," Albert briefed.

"Need I remind you that the Sisterhood is charged only with the defence of our own world. We cannot leave our borders undefended," Rosa asserted.

"Nor would I ask you to. With magic gone in our world, your sisters would be powerless the second they stepped through the portal. What we need now is any insight you could offer that may help us restore the Realm of Magic," Albert requested.

"I'll see what our collective magical knowledge can yield, but I make no promises," Rosa agreed.

"Thank you for your time, Mother Rosa," Albert ended the conversation. He was just about to leave when Ronnie Anne came bursting into the living room with her laptop in hand, a distressed look on her face which Rosa noticed.

"Mija, what is wrong?" Rosa inquired.

"Lincoln's gone, and so are his sisters!" Ronnie Anne replied.

"Gone where?" Rosa asked. Ronnie Anne showed Rosa and Albert the email she had been sent from Lincoln. The two could not believe what they were reading.

'Dear Ronnie Anne

If you're reading this message, then my sisters and I have left this dimension to find the one responsible for the Michigan Flu crisis and bring him to justice by any means. I will not lie to you, this will be dangerous, and chances are, not all of us will make it. If the worst should happen, then I just want you to know that you were the best thing to ever happen to me, yes, even though you used to shove sandwiches down my pants. There is, however, one more thing you should know. I love you, Ronnie Anne. Goodbye.

Lincoln'

"What were they thinking?!" Albert wondered.

"Yes, that is what I want to know as well," Rosa agreed. Albert then turned to address Ronnie Anne.

"Look, without any clue as to where they've gone, I cannot authorise a search, but if Lincoln and his sisters show up in my world, then I will do all I can to keep them safe and see to it they return here. I'll drag them back kicking and screaming if I have to," Albert assured Ronnie Anne. Ronnie Anne nodded in response, clearly too distressed to speak any more. Albert then handed Rosa a comm device.

"You should take this. It will allow us to communicate between dimensions. I have a feeling we'll need it," Albert said and then left the Casagrande home to portal back to his own realm. As soon as he set foot back in Excalibur HQ, Albert felt another sensation. This time, his magic had been drained again and, when he looked into a reflective surface, his cheek marks had once again vanished.

"Oh, really?" Albert remarked.

At Calamitous' lair, the professor had managed to round up the League of Villains once again. All were in attendance. They had decided to use Calamitous' lair as the meeting place because the Junkman's ship had recently been repossessed, something about unauthorised transactions. There was another change in the status quo, Goobot was no longer King. Turns out the local populace really hate it when you get their god Poultra killed and saw fit to depose the monarchy. They are instead ruled by a President and a Senate of all things. Goobot, naturally, blamed Jimmy and was eager for revenge. Bill had also seen to it that the love potion Jimmy used on Beautiful Gorgeous and the Junkman had worn off. The two were back to hating each other and wanted to get Jimmy even more than they did already for what they had to go through. Others had their share of misfortunes as well. Baby Eddie was disowned by his family, and Eustace Strych, after having gotten in trouble with the law, was also cut off from the family fortune. Professor Calamitous started the meeting in earnest.

"I'd like to thank you all for attending at such short notice. I take it you all know why we're here?" Calamitous probed.

"To destroy Neutron? We tried this once and failed miserably," Eustace chimed in.

"We had traitors in our ranks. We won't make that mistake again," Calamitous rebutted. It was true that Zix, Travoltron, and Tee betrayed the League. Calamitous knew not to call them hoping for a change of heart.

"If I may, what makes you so sure we'll succeed this time?" Grandma Taters asked.

"Because I have a secret weapon, one Jimmy will not see coming," Calamitous responded. The others were intrigued.

"Do share," Goobot replied in anticipation.

"That I will," came a voice from the shadows. Soon enough, Bill had emerged. Goobot was unimpressed at this late arrival.

"I must say I hoped for better," Goobot ridiculed.

"Look, buddy, the convention's that way," Eddie derided.

"Perhaps this will change your mind," Bill said menacingly. Suddenly, Goobot's dome started heating up to an insane degree, essentially boiling him alive. Goobot screamed in agony. The others gasped in horror.

"Do you like your eggs poached or sunny side up?" Bill inquired rhetorically.

"OK, OK, we're on board!" Goobot begged for it to stop, and it did.

"May I introduce my latest partner, Bill Cipher," Calamitous clarified.

"So, you've partnered up with tall, dark, and scary over there. What's his beef with Neutron?" Beautiful Gorgeous asked.

"I need something that he has, and I have an idea on how to retrieve it. All I need is Jimmy out of the way while my associate steals it," Bill briefed.

"Forgive me, but what associate?" Calamitous probed.

"He means me," came another voice from the shadows. From them emerged a sight no-one in the League saw coming. The voice came from none other than Jimmy himself.

"This is ridiculous! Why would Neutron help steal his own invention?" Eustace remarked in disbelief.

"Quiet, brat! I wouldn't want to spoil that nice outfit. Actually, I really would, so keep talking, see where it gets you!" Jimmy goaded. The League just sat there in silence.

"I had a theory, who better to help destroy Jimmy then Jimmy himself. You see, a while back, the Jimmy you know and hate decided to clone himself. When his doppelgangers proved too much, he decided to ice them all. Thankfully, one survived," Bill clarified.

"Yeah, and he also sealed me in a dark dimension for all eternity. But, thanks to Billy here, I've been freed and now I want sweet juicy revenge," Jimmy added.

"League of Villains, may I introduce you to Evil Jimmy," Bill concluded. Evil Jimmy smiled menacingly.

Author's note: I have found myself with even less time to write stories now. I will be starting a new part-time job soon which will take up at least three days a week, so expect updates to be even more infrequent than they already are. Let me assure you, readers, that I don't forget about a story, it just takes time for me to come up with coherent ideas. Plus, the outline I have for a chapter can change mid-way through writing it, so I'm always adapting. The usual disclaimers, I own nothing, Jimmy Neutron and the Loud House belong to Nickelodeon. Enjoy! I still want season four of Jimmy Neutron, dang it!


	3. Seeking answers

**Seeking answers**

Jimmy, Carl, Sheen, Cindy, Libby, and the Loud siblings were en route to the latest rift to appear in Retroville. Thankfully, this one was fairly local. Jimmy and Lisa made sure that they would have everything they needed to properly study the rift, instead of just dealing with whatever came through and sealing it up like Jimmy had been doing previously. Jimmy had sealed the lab up behind him with his signature security details. Lori, ever curious as to how Jimmy kept unwanted guests out, asked how Jimmy's locks worked.

"This is a DNA scanner. I made it so only people with my exact genetic code can enter my lab. I can also open the guest entrance from the inside. It's fool-proof," Jimmy explained

"Do you think you could make me one of those for my room?" Lori asked.

"Can I have one, too?" Lincoln added.

"Does no-one knock in your family?" Jimmy inquired.

"No, they don't," Lincoln answered.

"It is like Lisa says, then. Never any privacy," Jimmy commented.

"Nope, never. Got everything in the hypercube?" Lisa checked.

"Hyper-what now?" Lana probed. Jimmy then produced a blue cube from his pocket.

"This is a hypercube. It can carry all the equipment I need and is light as a feather. It's more efficient than suitcases," Jimmy described.

"Oh, great, there he goes again," Cindy groaned.

"I think I saw something else with the same sort of set-up, only it was a police box that flew and had a cute blonde at the wheel," Luna recalled.

"Should I tell Sam that blondes are your weakness?" Leni teased playfully.

"Oh, she already knows," Luna rebutted.

"Thank goodness for the Westermarck Effect," Lisa chimed in. Libby could not help but be amused at this exchange.

"Hey, Lunes. If Cindy were a few years older, or you were a few years younger, what would you think about dating her?" Libby inquired. Luna, despite only knowing these girls for a few minutes, joined in on the fun while making their way to the rift, for want of something to lighten the mood. She looked Cindy over and gave her answer some thought.

"I'd say, Jimmy would have some competition," Luna evaluated.

"Well, if Jimmy hadn't snapped me up, a musician would certainly be my ideal date," Cindy said. That made everyone except Jimmy, Lisa, and Lincoln go 'ooooooooo'. "But I'd have to warn you, Luna, I'm high maintenance," Cindy added.

"She's not wrong, there," Jimmy replied, which earned him a punch in the arm from Cindy. Unbeknownst to all of them, someone was watching them from afar, waiting to make his move. Now that Jimmy and his friends had left the lab, now was a perfect time.

"So, the original has got himself a girl scout group? No matter. With them gone, I can get what I need," Evil Jimmy said to himself. Knowing that the genetic lock would let him in, Evil Jimmy infiltrated Jimmy's lab, took his interdimensional portal, stored it in a hypercube of his own, and left behind a little present. He left while cackling to himself. "I hope Bill's plan works," Evil Jimmy added.

Meanwhile, at Royal Woods High School, Benny was going about his regular day. One thing was different, though. When he checked his messages this morning, he found a rather somber note from Luan. She said that she had left Royal Woods last night, along with her siblings, to go to another dimension to find the one responsible for almost bringing Royal Woods to ruin and that she couldn't take anyone she loved with her. Safe to say, Benny was depressed at this. He got his things from his locker ready for class when a girl came up to him.

"You too, huh?" the girl Benny recognised as Sam greeted him.

"Yeah," Benny acknowledged.

"I don't get it. The Dread Mistress is gone, the flu's cured. Why go off on a revenge mission?" Sam asked.

"Because it's important to them. I saw what happened to the Louds. If it were me, I'd go too," Benny responded. Sam took this opportunity to ask something that had been on her mind for a while.

"Had Luan asked you to come along, would you have gone with her?" Sam inquired.

"Absolutely. She means everything to me," Benny answered without hesitation. Sam nodded in acknowledgement.

"I know I would've gone with Luna, had she asked," Sam replied. Benny then had a rather crazy idea. It was a long shot, but given everything Luan told him about her family, he thought it was feasible.

"Could we follow them?" Benny probed. Now Sam was curious.

"How?" Sam replied.

"Well, Lisa's a super genius. We could use her device to go where they went and find them. We could either help them or at least try to convince them to come home," Benny resolved. Sam was initially sceptical about this plan, but if it meant getting Luna back, she had no objections.

"It'll be risky," Sam warned.

"I know, but it's the only plan we've got," Benny said.

At Great Lakes City, in Chavez Academy, Ronnie Anne and Sid were having a similar conversation, only about the email Lincoln sent to Ronnie Anne before he left. Ronnie Anne came to a similar resolution to Benny, but it would be more difficult for her to get back to Royal Woods without attracting attention. Sid, meanwhile, had other reasons to suspect why Ronnie Anne would try something so daring.

"You really want to go and find Lincoln that badly?" Sid asked.

"I'm sure he'd do the same," Ronnie Anne answered. Sid, while hesitant, decided that the time for subtlety was over. She had tried to covertly talk Ronnie Anne out of this crazy scheme of travelling back to Royal Woods and looking for clues in Lisa's bunker as to where Lincoln went and following him there, without success. So, instead, she asked the big question.

"One more thing, though, and I need you to honestly answer this next question with a yes or a no. Do you love Lincoln?" Sid interrogated. Ronnie Anne gave her answer a lot of thought. True, Lincoln was her best friend, next to Sid, and they have known each other a good long while. The chemistry was there, Ronnie Anne just spent that entire time denying its existence. But between the events leading up to Lincoln's departure, his goodbye message, and her reaction upon reading it, she could not hide the truth any longer, even from herself. Out of respect for Sid, and that she knew Sid could tell if she was lying, she decided to tell her the truth.

"Yes. Yes I do," Ronnie Anne confessed.

"Alright, then I'm coming too, and there's no way you're talking me out of it," Sid resolved. Ronnie Anne sighed in defeat.

"OK, then. First, we need to get to Royal Woods. The quarantine has been lifted, so the train should take us there," Ronnie Anne briefed.

"It'll be costly," Sid realised. Just then, Nikki, Casey, and Sameer approached the two.

"Did we hear that right? You two are taking a train out of state to find Ronnie Anne's boyfriend?" Nikki probed.

"You could say that," Sid replied.

"Then let us chip in for your tickets," Casey offered.

"We couldn't ask that," Ronnie Anne tried to declined, but they were not having any of it.

"We're doing this for you, girl. Plus, we're total saps for people in love," Sameer rebutted. After being handed the money needed for their train tickets to Royal Woods, Ronnie Anne and Sid thanked the trio.

"Go get him, tiger," Nikki wished. After school had finished, Ronnie Anne and Sid made a beeline for the train station and purchased two one-way tickets to Royal Woods. They concluded that, after Lincoln and his sisters were found, that they would call their parents and tell them what they had done afterwards. Better to ask forgiveness than permission. As they were about to board, they ran into a figure Ronnie Anne knew all too well.

"I would ask what you're doing here, but I could probably guess the answer," Bobby said sternly.

"Don't try and talk me out of this, Bobby. I have to find him," Ronnie Anne asserted.

"Hey, you're not the only one here willing to cross dimensions for a loved one. Lori's out there too, and I want to find her as well. My ticket's already bought, so you coming?" Bobby rebuffed.

"What about the Mercado?" Ronnie Anne inquired.

"Carlota's looking after it. She and the family know nothing, so let's go already," Bobby urged, and the three got on the train to Royal Woods.

Back at Retroville, Jimmy and the others arrived at the latest rift to appear. Unlike the others, this one appeared in a populated area. While the locals were both scared and interested, local authorities, or rather, the BTSO in disguise, had sealed off the area, allowing Jimmy and Lisa to do their work unhindered. It was especially inconvenient for Sam, the Candy Bar owner, as this rift appeared in the parking area outside his establishment. Jimmy had told the BTSO chief that he wanted to study the rift more thoroughly this time and that he had brought back-up.

"Got the probe ready?" Jimmy inquired.

"All systems are green. She's ready to go. I still can't believe you kept this," Lisa acknowledged. Since Lisa sent the probe from her dimension, Jimmy had kept it in the hopes of understanding its design and function. Also, and Jimmy didn't want to admit this to anyone, but it had some sentimental value, being the thing that enabled him to meet a fellow genius.

"I've taken the liberty of installing a cloaking device so it won't be spotted by anything or anyone on the other side. We should be able to observe in complete anonymity," Jimmy noted.

"The real question is, are these rifts purely coincidental, or is there something larger at work here? Do not let this diversion distract you or your family from your true objective," Harriet guided Lucy in her head.

"I don't get it. How is poking and prodding a crack in space-time going to help us find Bill?" Lynn asked impatiently.

"Yeah, when do we get to the butt-kicking?" Lola agreed.

"All things in time, dear siblings," Lisa assured.

"Whatever, I'm gonna go grab a sundae while we're here," Lynn notified. Several of the other siblings, as well and Carl, Sheen, Cindy, and Libby, moved to join her. Lincoln and Lucy stayed behind. Once the probe was ready, Jimmy and Lisa directed it through the rift while cloaked. They were able to view the telemetry via Goddard's screen. What they saw was not that unusual.

"Seems this one leads to the Himilayas. This should be fairly easy," Jimmy noted.

"The sooner we fix this, the better. The cold is starting to seep through," Lisa pointed out.

"Goddard, calculate the correlation between rift size, frequency of appearance, and location," Jimmy instructed. On cue, Goddard drew up a graph. Jimmy and Lisa looked it over. "As I suspected, not only are the rifts appearing more frequently, but they appear to be getting bigger. Although, the locations are still random," Jimmy evaluated.

"So, we can't predict where the next one will appear, but it is due in approximately a day and a half, and it will be bigger than the last. I have to say, this will be a growing problem. What could be causing this?" Lisa asked. Jimmy was thinking something over in his head.

"The Multiverse Theory postulates that an infinite number of parallel universes exist in balance with each other, separated by invisible barriers," Jimmy described.

"Yes, but travel between those universes is possible without disrupting that balance," Lisa added.

"Clarification request," Lincoln piped up.

"Think of travelling between dimensions as going through your front door. You've gained access, but nothing beyond that. But what if the wall surrounding your front door, separating the inside of your house from the outside world, suddenly collapsed?" Jimmy explained.

"The entire house would come down and whatever was inside is now outside. Is that what's happening here?" Lincoln inquired.

"Too early to tell. We need more information," Jimmy replied. Just then, Jimmy spotted something very disturbing on Goddard's screen. It seems this particular rift came out directly in front of Professor Calamitous' lair. Good thing the probe was cloaked. Eager for answers, Jimmy directed the probe into the lair, where he then spotted something he neither expected nor wanted to see again.

"Errrrrrr, is that you?" Lucy probed. They had spotted Jimmy's evil clone, and he was talking to Calamitous.

"But how?" Jimmy asked himself. Lisa then turned on the audio.

"Look, I got Jimmy's portal, like tall, dark, and creepy wanted. You know where he is now?" Evil Jimmy demanded.

"Tall, dark, and creepy?" Jimmy repeated. Lucy, Lisa, and Lincoln had a bad feeling they knew who he was talking about.

"He said he had to visit an old friend. Who knows what's going on in his head. Honestly, he's starting to freak the others out," Calamitous responded.

"I kinda like his style. After he got me out of that dark dimension and told me his plan, I was sold from the get-go," Evil Jimmy rebutted. This irritated Calamitous.

"What! He told you what he wanted with that thing and not me? Care to share?" Calamitous interrogated.

"He got into my lab?!" Jimmy retorted, dumbfounded.

"From what I've gathered, he wants to make a dimension in his own image, as you do. But to do that, he needs to initiate a 'second cleaving event', whatever that is, and for that, he needs the portal," Evil Jimmy monologued.

"A second what?" Calamitous asked.

"He wants to fuse dimensions, or so I gathered. But he needs to recreate the first cleaving event so he understands how to do it," Evil Jimmy clarified.

"That's impossible," Jimmy commented. Calamitous said the same.

"Whatever. Point is, our mutual friend has it on good authority that two dimensions have already fused, and he wants to do that again, only on a much larger scale," Evil Jimmy concluded.

"But that could tear the entire multiverse apart! What would he have to rule, then?!" Calamitous exclaimed.

"These rifts, this 'cleaving event'. Now it makes sense," Jimmy put two and two together in his head.

"They're the result of the multiverse trying to regain balance after two dimensions were fused. But how was that done the first time?" Lisa pondered.

"That doesn't matter now. All we're doing is delaying the inevitable. Given time, the entire multiverse will fall apart. If the League succeeds, that process will be accelerated a thousand times," Jimmy concluded.

"There is only one conclusion to draw from this little experiment," Harriet said to Lucy in her head.

"Bill is here," Lucy said grimly.

"Or he was. According to the conversation we just heard, Bill seems to have left for parts unknown. But we have to get Jimmy's portal back before he returns," Lisa stated.

"So much for foolproof security," Lincoln chided.

"Hey, he's my exact duplicate. Of course, he has my genetic code," Jimmy argued.

"There is another matter at play here. There is every possibility that you will retrieve this boy's device, but no possibility of doing so before Bill returns to this world. You and your sisters must be prepared to face him. To do that, you will need to unbind their powers," Harriet instructed.

"We should form a plan at the lab before we do anything rash," Lucy suggested.

"Agreed. I'll need to get some things from there, anyway," Jimmy acknowledged.

At the Candy Bar, Carl, Sheen, Cindy, and Libby were getting to know the other Loud sisters better. Cindy seemed to really get along with Lynn, what with them both bragging about their athletic accomplishments. Libby was sharing her musical tastes with Luna, and Carl and Sheen couldn't get enough of Luan's comedy routine, although the laughs were dying at a certain point. Also, Carl, Sheen, Cindy, and Libby were telling stories about their adventures to the sisters.

"So, that's when Jimmy turned a doll into a death machine, then his nanobots made it bigger, and it rampaged across the entire town. It was awesome," Sheen finished telling the story about how Jimmy became a toy inventor to stay in Retroville.

"You think he could do that to Lola's collection?" Lana asked.

"He better not, or I'll find him in his sleep!" Lola warned. Lori started to have concerns over whether Jimmy was safe to be around, given what she had just heard about his track record.

"How often do these sorts of things happen here?" Lori inquired.

"Check the counter," Carl replied. He pointed towards an indicator on the wall of the Candy Bar. It read:

'Times Jimmy Neutron saved the town: 13'

"That doesn't seem so bad," Leni remarked.

"Now read the other one," Cindy said. Indeed, there was another indicator, saying:

'Times Jimmy Neutron almost destroyed the town with one of his inventions: 16'

"Should we have asked someone else to help us?" Lori wondered.

"Lisa vouched for him, and she's super smart. I'm sure she knows what she's doing," Leni assured.

"Yeah, Jimmy has this whole 'fighting evil' thing down to a science, literally," Sheen added. As if on cue, the others came into the Candy Bar with urgent looks on their faces.

"We have problems," Jimmy stated.

Back at Royal Woods, Ronnie Anne, Bobby, and Sid arrived at the train station and made their way to the Loud House. After having caught a cab ride there, they found that they were not the only ones to visit the now mostly empty house. Two others, whom Ronnie Anne recognised as Sam and Benny, were also approaching the house.

"I take it you're all here for the same reason we are," Ronnie Anne addressed the duo. Sam looked them over.

"From the looks of it, you're here for Lincoln and Lori," Sam guessed.

"Got it in one. Although Sid here…" Ronnie Anne gestured towards Sid, "…..she's here to support me. This is actually her first time in Royal Woods," Ronnie Anne continued.

"When our mission is over, we should give you a tour," Benny offered.

"That sounds like fun," Sid replied. They got to the hatch leading into Lisa's bunker, which was sealed by a code.

"If what Lincoln told me is true, then the access code would be Lisa's birthday. Let me see," Ronnie Anne said with thought. She punched in Lisa's birthday, and the hatch opened.

"I thought you said Lisa was a genius. Using your birthday as a password is just dumb," Sid commented.

"Travel now, question Lisa's choices later," Sam urged. Before they could pile in, a group of kids came up to them. Ronnie Anne recognised most of them as Lincoln's friends, but one girl was among them that she hadn't seen before.

"Word on the street is you're all looking for the Loud siblings," Rusty addressed.

"We're not bringing you, too. The group's big enough as it is," Bobby shot down any hopes they had of going on this adventure.

"We weren't planning on it. We just came to wish you luck," Zach interjected. The girl then approached Ronnie Anne.

"So, you're the famous Ronnie Anne Lincoln keeps going on and on about. I have to say, I'm stoked I finally get to meet you," Stella greeted.

"I take it you're Stella? Lincoln mentions you a lot, too. Are you and he…..?" Ronnie Anne awkwardly asked.

"Absolutely not. Lincoln's a good friend, but nothing beyond that. He's all yours," Stella eased. This put Ronnie Anne's secret fear to rest. When Lincoln first mentioned Stella, Ronnie Anne was a little afraid that she would put the moves on Lincoln, thus potentially ruining any chance she had with him. Now that she had Stella's blessing, Ronnie Anne felt somewhat comfortable.

"Don't worry, I'll bring him back, kicking and screaming if I have to," Ronnie Anne promised. The group then entered Lisa's bunker and found her portal.

"Now, if we could just get this thing working," Benny said. He found a power outlet that the portal was plugged into and flipped it on. But then, two others entered the bunker.

"Not this again!" Rita scolded.

"It is bad enough our own kids took off on some grand adventure, now you lot are running off, too!" Lynn Sr. joined in.

"And you two!" Rita then pointed at Bobby and Ronnie Anne. "Do the Casagrandes and your parents know you're here?!" Rita interrogated.

"Please try and understand. We have to try and get them back," Ronnie Anne pleaded.

"They mean a lot to us. We couldn't live with ourselves if something happened and we weren't there," Bobby explained.

"We all know the risks, and we're willing to take them. No-one else needs to get involved," Sam stated. Just then, the portal came to life, but not in the way anyone expected. A computer voice rang out across the bunker.

ALERT! ANOMALY DETECTED! DIMENSIONAL PORTAL SYSTEMS IN OVERLOAD. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!

Before anyone could react, the portal stretched out and engulfed Sam, Benny, Sid, Ronnie Anne, and Bobby, sending them who-knows-where, before shutting down violently, sending sparks flying everywhere, the portal itself rendered inoperable.

"What happened down there?" Stella called out from above. No-one could answer. Not only did this prevent any hope of the Loud siblings returning, but now five other kids, two of which were family friends, were missing as well. Given the nature of their departure, all of them might as well be dead.

"Goodbye," Lynn Sr. whispered in despair, at the perceived loss of all his children, except for Lily.

At Jimmy's lab, Jimmy, his friends, and the Louds were drawing up a battle plan for taking on the League of Villains and getting Jimmy's portal back.

"I don't suppose the N-Men packets are out of the question," Cindy suggested.

"I'm all out of that stuff, so no flight or super-strength for you," Jimmy rebutted.

"OK, so we do it the old-fashioned way. We go in, beat the stuffing out of them, and then get your doohickey back," Sheen threw out there.

"I like that plan," Lynn complimented.

"We'll need support. Jet Fusion still owes me a favour, but he's in Australia right now. Zix, Travoltron, and Tee are a good fall-back, but they could be in another part of the galaxy," Jimmy listed off any potential allies. Carl, however, was pre-occupied with something else.

"Guys, what's that ticking sound?" Carl wondered.

"Are you hearing things again? It's just your tinnitus acting up," Sheen calmed.

"No, Carl's right. Look under the table!" Harriet ordered in Lucy's head. Lucy did so and gasped loudly.

"Bomb!" Lucy shouted. The others went to look. Jimmy did indeed confirm that it was an explosive device.

"Goddard, how long?!" Jimmy asked urgently. Goddard analysed the device. His screen showed a timer counting down from two minutes. Just then, the lab locked itself down, with them still inside. Vox, Jimmy's computer, then came to life and Evil Jimmy was talking to all of them.

"I see you found the present I left you. Don't worry, I'll be putting that portal of yours to good use real soon. This is for trapping me in that dark world," Evil Jimmy taunted and shut off the feed. Jimmy then inspected the bomb.

"Its internal circuitry is like nothing I've seen before. I don't think I can defuse it in time," Jimmy said bluntly. He then tried to end the laboratory lockdown on his computer.

"Escape is impossible, but you can still make it out of this. Use your power," Harriet urged.

"But I don't have a wand," Lucy argued.

"You won't need one. Focus on the device," Harriet instructed. As if she was in a trance, Lucy then outstretched her hand towards the bomb. "Now, in your mind, detach the bomb from the table and surround it in an impenetrable bubble," Harriet tried to teach Lucy wandless magic. To everyone's astonishment, what Lucy was picturing in her mind was playing out in front of them. No-one could believe it, least of all Jimmy and Lisa.

"The device will detonate soon. When it does, keep the bubble intact," Harriet prepared Lucy for her first real test. Indeed, the bomb did go off, but the explosion remained confined inside the bubble Lucy had conjured. It was taking considerable effort on Lucy's part to keep the bubble intact. Eventually, the explosion fizzled out and Lucy, drained from the experience, dropped to her knees. Safe to say, everyone had questions. Lynn reacted to this situation by restraining Lucy.

"You still have powers?!" Lynn demanded, half afraid the Dread Mistress was making a come-back.

"We all do," Lucy replied, in a bombshell revelation that shook the Loud siblings to their core.

"It begins," Harriet said.

Author's note: Sorry this took so long, but as I said last time, I do have a job now, though, for obvious reasons, I now work from home, but as I am a college Science Technician, all that amounts to is some light reading, which I can do any time, so I now have more time than I thought since all the schools/colleges/universities are closed. Just as I was getting settled, too. The usual disclaimers, I own nothing. Jimmy Neutron and the Loud House belong to Nickelodeon. Enjoy, and stay safe.


	4. The new Louds

**The new Louds**

It did not take long for word to spread about what happened at the Loud House. Safe to say, the town of Royal Woods was in shock. Not only did all but one of the Loud siblings vanish, but now five other kids had gone missing. Given the nature of their departure and the impossibility of their return, the authorities were quick to add Bobby, Ronnie Anne, Sid, Sam, Benny, and all the Loud siblings, bar Lily, onto a list of the dead. The official story was that they all died in a tragic laboratory accident. Everyone in town that knew the Louds and the other missing kids came together for a memorial service. Rita had the uncomfortable job of telling the Casagrandes, who then told Sid's parents, what had happened. Once word got to them, they all came down to Royal Woods to attend, along with the parents of Sam and Benny, Sam's little brother Simon, and Sid's little sister Adelaide. Lynn Sr. then laid a wreath onto a makeshift headstone that had been made. Around the stone lay framed pictures of all those lost.

No-one said a word to each other as they all left. Maria and Arturo Santiago were inconsolable. They had lost both of their children. They were stoically quiet on the ride home as well, electing not to speak to anyone as they dealt with their grief. On the car radio, Katherine Mulligan was reporting on the service.

"In local news, a private memorial service was today held for the Loud siblings Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa, as well as Bobby and Ronnie Anne Santiago, Sid Chang, Sam Sharp, and Benny, last name unknown. All of these youngsters are thought to be lost after a tragic laboratory accident. Authorities found no trace of them while investigating the scene. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families during this dark time," Katherine stated.

"I should've stopped him!" Carlota said with a hint of self-blaming.

"Calm, mija. There was no way any of us could've predicted what they would do," Hector tried to console, but was finding it hard to stay strong himself.

"Perhaps. But this was just a memorial, not a full-blown burial. If it is true that they managed to jump dimensions, there may yet be a very slim hope that they can return to us," Carlos attempted to inject even a minute trace of hope. The Louds had told the Casagrandes the full story before they arrived in Royal Woods. It took some convincing, but Rosa was able to get them to believe the tale.

"That would depend on the manner of their return if they come back at all. I fear that, if we hold out hope that they can still come back alive, it will be met with cold reality," Frida countered. Rosa, however, was as silent as the Santiago parents. When her family got back to Great Lakes City, she would make it her first priority to call Albert and tell him what happened.

In Jimmy's lab, the Louds, who were most certainly not dead, were wondering what to make of Lucy's revelation. After she had used magic to save them all from total obliteration, a power they thought died with the Dread Mistress persona, she had revealed that all the Louds had magical abilities of their own.

"What do you mean, we all have powers?" Lynn demanded, not letting go of Lucy.

"Harriet told me, the Louds are a magical family, and that she founded the Sisterhood all those years ago. Our powers have just been suppressed by a binding potion disguised as a recipe for baby formula," Lucy explained. The rest of them, naturally, did not believe her.

"Right, and how come we haven't heard of this until now? Surely Mum and Dad would've told us we were literally witches," Lori rebuffed.

"Because Mum and Dad don't know. Harriet bound the powers of the family line to keep us safe. In case you haven't noticed, a life with magic is also dangerous as well as wondrous," Lucy answered.

"Say we believe you. How come you can still do magic when the rest of us can't?" Lincoln inquired.

"When I found the wand, it awakened the dormant magical energy inside of me. Bill just tricked me into thinking the wand was letting me borrow magic," Lucy replied. Lynn took a moment to consider what she had just seen and heard. While the claim that all the Louds had powers was an outlandish one, the fact was that they had just seen Lucy performing magic right in front of them, to save everyone from floating on air all over Retroville in tiny pieces. She decided to let Lucy free of her grip.

"Can you do the same for us?" Lynn asked, which took everyone by surprise.

"Is that even possible?" Lola asked, half sceptical, half excited at the thought of her potential self-image as a magical princess.

"Oh, please. Granted, I now know that there are beings out there with exceptional abilities that can be considered unnatural, but magic, like leprechauns, unicorns, and softball gods, does not exist," Lisa dismissed.

"Really? Consider us. All of us have exhibited a degree of enhanced natural talent in various fields. You, Lynn, have athletic prowess some professionals spend their entire careers trying to master. Lisa, you're a certified genius with multiple Ph.D.'s at age four. Lincoln, your penchant for planning and strategy is second to none, and then there's me, with an unexplained connection to the spiritual plane even before all this started. Need I go on?" Lucy summarised. It was at that moment, it all made sense to most of the Louds. Lisa was still having trouble processing the information, but even she conceded that Dad's recipe for formula was a little unusual.

"You still haven't answered my question, is it possible to grant us the same abilities?" Lola reiterated.

"Normally, I would recommend a potion to undo the binding of their powers and letting the magic grow naturally, but given the urgency of the current situation, we'll have to fast-track this, and there is only one way to do that," Harriet responded. Lucy then spoke for Harriet about something called the Awakening Spell.

At Calamitous' lair, the professor himself was having a crisis of conscience. On one hand, he wanted to destroy Neutron more than anything. But, he could not help but think that Bill's plan was utter insanity. Having experienced interdimensional travel first-hand with his trip to Dimmsdale, he knew that such travel should not be done lightly, or without a very good reason. If what Jimmy's evil clone said was true about Bill wanting to 'merge' all the universes together and create a new world in his own image, he had to wonder what took priority, beating Neutron or saving the multiverse from certain destruction. Before he could think about this any more, his daughter, Beautiful Gorgeous, came into his office.

"Meeting's on in half an hour. Your 'friend' wants to go over the final stages with the rest of the League," Beautiful notified. Calamitous was too pre-occupied with his current thoughts to respond to her, with Beautiful noticed. "Something wrong, Dad?" Beautiful inquired, showing rare concern for her father.

"It's just, the plan that Bill has, does it make sense to you?" Calamitous probed. Sensing where this was going, Beautiful shut the door and approached her father.

"I'm guessing I've had the same thought you've been having," Beautiful postulated.

"Say it at the same time?" Calamitous proposed.

"On three. One, two, three," Beautiful counted, and when 'three' was said, they both came out with the same thing.

"Bill is insane!" they both realised.

"I thought it was just me! What were you thinking, introducing him to the League?!" Beautiful asked.

"I don't know!" Calamitous wailed. "I thought he could help us beat Neutron once and for all. He seemed like the best man for the job, but I never saw how mad he was," Calamitous let it all out.

"Well, this is what happens when you open Pandora's Box," Beautiful reprimanded. Calamitous sighed heavily.

"So, what do we do now?" Calamitous probed.

"I think you know what you, no, we, have to do. But if we do it, there's no going back, and that Voldemort knock-off will be on us like seven truckloads of bricks," Beautiful responded.

"I know, dear, but what choice do we have?" Calamitous replied.

At Excalibur HQ, Alberts was in the middle of a holo-conference with Moon and Eclipsa. The two were providing updates on the progress of integrating Earth, monster, and Mewman societies into the new world.

"With the help of the Patrons, humanity is co-existing peacefully with the monster people. Your President has been very helpful on that front as well," Eclipsa briefed.

"I can report the same on the Mewman front, as well. It seems Star has been sharing her experiences with both peoples on these 'chat forums' your people are so fond of," Moon added.

"Good, and what about our preparations for the inevitable battle with Bill?" Albert inquired. Moon and Eclipsa were a little less optimistic about that particular topic.

"I've scoured my brain over and over, but I can't think of any way to revitalise the Realm of Magic, and without the High Commission to ask for help, I doubt we'll get answers anytime soon," Moon replied. Just then, a third hologram came to life.

"Hello? Is this thing on? Is that you, Albert? I have words for you!" came a voice Albert knew well. The hologram gained full cohesion and Rosa Casagrande appeared in holographic form. Moon and Eclipsa were surprised at this intrusion.

"What the- who the devil are you?" Eclipsa asked,

"Moon, Eclipsa, this is Rosa Casagrande, the head of the Sisterhood of Shining Light. I gave her a communicator in the hopes that she could help us," Albert explained.

"The status of that arrangement is in the air, considering what's just happened," Rosa replied. Now Albert was really confused.

"OK, take a deep breath and start from the top," Albert eased. Rosa then proceeded to explain how Bobby, Ronnie Anne, Sid, Sam, and Benny used Lisa's portal device when it malfunctioned and sent them hurdling who-knows-where and the device overloaded. "Damn it, I told those kids not to get involved. Why did they not listen to me?!" Albert asked rhetorically.

"Clearly someone has never been a parent," Moon commented. Albert then had a thought. He then called up another contact, and another hologram, this time, a young boy, appeared on the conference table. He also summoned someone else from inside the Institute itself, and that person came to join in on the conference.

"Mother Rosa, this is Phineas Flynn and Stanford Pines, the closest we have to inter-dimensional physics experts. They may have a solution to your problem," Albert introduced.

"Isn't he a little young to be delving into inter-dimensional physics?" Rosa inquired, pointing at Phineas.

"Yes, yes he is, but he's one of the best we have, or so I'm told," Moon interjected. Once the situation was explained to Phineas and Stanford, they thought for a moment, and then Phineas had an answer.

"If Lisa's portal device is like any of ours, there may be a record of their departure, and a log indicating which dimension they would've ended up in. It would be a simple matter of retrieving the log, going to that dimension and extracting the displaced children ourselves," Phineas summarised.

"A four-year-old inventing dimensional portals and curing deadly plagues? I swear, you child geniuses are getting younger by the day," Stanford remarked.

"That does seem plausible. Could we access those records?" Albert probed.

"Shouldn't be a problem, but we'd have to get them from the portal itself. There's no way to access them remotely," Stanford briefed.

"Very well, Stanford and I will go back to Royal Woods to get those records. With them in hand, I can get a search and rescue operation going," Albert concluded.

"Wait, shouldn't I come, too?" Phineas volunteered.

"That's a negative. The Tri-State Area is a hot zone right now, and we need you there to keep the people safe with your inventions. Plus, I'm not sure your parents would approve," Albert dismissed. Since the merging, the Tri-State Area was unlucky enough to also be home to some of Mewni's most dangerous areas. The Forest of Certain Death, the Spider Kingdom, and an entrance to the Underworld, to name a few. Albert had asked Phineas to use his resources to keep the populace safe from the dangers these places presented, as well as concoct some anti-serums for all those spider bites. Phineas was happy to do his part, with the help of his friends, but it was a tall order.

"Very well, but I should tell you that things here are close to breaking point. We'll need assistance soon," Phineas briefed.

"We'll see what can be done," Moon assured. Phineas then logged off. Rosa then spoke up about another matter.

"I have had my Sisters research ways to revitalise your 'Realm of Magic' and I think we have a solution on that front," Rosa stated. Albert, Moon, and Eclipsa were excited to hear some good news about this topic at long last.

"Don't keep us in the dark, Rosa," Albert urged.

"After much deliberation, my fellow Mothers and I have narrowed down all possible solutions to just one; the Awakening Spell," Rosa explained. The look of optimism on Moon and Eclipsa's faces quickly turned to one of abject horror.

"Absolutely not!" Moon objected.

"I have to agree. I may have dabbled into spells considered reckless and impulsive, but even I dare not use that spell," Eclipsa added.

"Why? What's wrong with it?" Albert probed.

"You don't know? Every Queen of Mewni is briefed on that spell when they take the throne. They are explicitly told by the Commission that to use it is an offence punishable by the forced abdication of the throne. There is a reason the Commission purged all written work relating to the Awakening Spell," Moon explained.

"So, it's the ultimate taboo. But what does it actually do?" Albert asked, hoping to get a straight answer. The former queens were hesitant to even answer this question. Eventually, Eclipsa stepped up to the plate.

"In a nutshell, the Awakening Spell is the process by which someone with active magical energy transfers a part of their power to another host, be it someone with no magical connection, or someone with dormant magical energy inside of them. Essentially, it empowers the host with magical abilities of their own," Eclipsa summarised.

"OK, what's so bad about that?" Albert asked.

"Two things. One, the Commission outlawed this spell heavily out of fear that a queen may give their powers to someone who might misuse them. Two, the one enacting the spell acts as a sort of battery, generating magical energy and transferring it, sort of like an electrical circuit," Eclipsa went on to explain.

"Problem is, if the battery transfers more energy than they can afford to lose, well, you really don't need me to explain the consequences if that happens, do you?" Moon finished.

"The battery dies?" Albert guessed. All nodded.

Back at Jimmy's lab, Lucy had just finished giving the same explanation to her siblings. They were all shocked and horrified at the proposal.

"So, is it open for discussion?" Lucy asked.

"There is not going to be any discussion, debate, meeting, or committee. We're not doing it, end of story," Lynn asserted.

"Yeah, I'm with Lynn. I want to be a magical princess more than anything, but I don't want to lose a sister to get there," Lola added.

"We've already been over the other option, and the potion to undo the binding is a strong second, but it will take too long to gather ingredients and even longer to make. With this, we'll have an even footing much sooner," Lucy argued.

"Trust me, Lucy, when I say nothing good comes from taking shortcuts. That is a route to disaster," Jimmy cautioned.

"We knew the risks when we set out on this quest, didn't we?" Lucy asked.

"We don't care! We're not bringing you home in a body-bag if we can help it!" Luan exclaimed.

"We are not sacrificing you to gain an immediate advantage, multiversal catastrophe or otherwise. Unless we have no other option, this spell is off the table," Lincoln added.

"We are at war, here. If it gets us a fighting chance against Bill and saves the multiverse, my life doesn't matter," Lucy countered. When she said that, Lynn went up to Lucy and slapped her so hard you could hear it from outside.

"IT DOES TO US!" Lynn yelled. She then hugged Lucy so tight, she might as well be a vice grip, and she also did something no Loud would have guessed her capable of doing. She started crying. "I watched you die once. Please don't make me go through that again," Lynn pleaded. A grim silence filled the laboratory, until Jimmy had an idea.

"We might be able to get the ingredients for this 'unbinding' potion faster if we split up. While I object to my laboratory being turned into an apothecary, it's better than the alternative. Of course, we'll need to know what we're looking for," Jimmy suggested. Lucy then piped up through Lynn's embrace.

"Alright, if that's what you think, I'll write up a list," Lucy offered. Before anyone could act, however, Jimmy's computer came to life. To their surprise, Professor Calamitous appeared on-screen.

"So, you survived your doppelganger's assassination attempt. Somehow, I knew you would," Calamitous observed.

"Why, thank you. When can I expect the next attempt on my life?" Jimmy asked sarcastically.

"I know you hate me right now, and with good reason, but I want to help you stop Bill. He's completely insane. His plans for the multiverse will bring us all to ruin," Calamitous responded.

"Just realised that now, did you?" Jimmy chided.

"Look, my daughter is on my side. She's stealing your portal device back from your evil clone as I speak. We'll need a quick extraction because I fear it won't be long before the League, or worse, Bill himself will figure out what we've done, and when that happens, you won't have to worry about our plans anymore. We've taken advantage of Bill's absence from this dimension to make our move, but he may return at any time," Calamitous explained.

"And why should we trust you?" Jimmy probed, sceptically.

"Do you want to stop Bill and save the multiverse or not? We'll wait by the entrance to the lair as long as we can, but you must hurry," Calamitous urged and the call was terminated.

"Well, that's it. We can't wait," Lucy pointed out. Sensing where this was going, Lynn rushed to object.

"No way, no how," Lynn said.

"You heard him, it's now or never. We need every advantage we can get if we're going to stop him. This has to be done now," Lucy insisted.

"No way, dude. We've beaten him without magic before, we can do it again. This isn't worth the cost," Luna countered.

"That was when Rosa had him distracted and he had only just regained his form. Now that she's not here and he's had time to hone his skills, if we go in unprepared, he'll kill us all with minimal effort. This way, at least you all will have a fighting chance," Lucy rebuffed. Lori was weighing all the options in her head. As much as she hated it, she had to realise that this was a no-win situation. It was either take the slow way, endangering the multiverse and countless lives while preserving Lucy's, or take the shortcut, get their powers, have a reasonable chance of surviving an encounter with Bill, getting the portal back, but potentially losing Lucy to do it. There was no way around it, either way, there was a price to pay for any decision.

"How does this 'Awakening Spell' go?" Lori asked, which drew gasps of shock from the Louds.

"We already decided we're not doing this, and don't pull the seniority card this time, Lori!" Luna demanded.

"I don't like this any more than you! But Lucy's right, we have no time, and we all knew the risks when we came here," Lori argued.

"What if it was Bobby who had to say the spell? Or Ronnie Anne, or anyone else you love? Would you make that call then?" Lincoln inquired.

"You all literally mean everything to me. I could never ask you to lay it all on the line," Lori replied.

"Except you're not asking me. I'm volunteering of my own accord," Lucy corrected. It was at this point, the rest of the siblings knew there was no stopping her. "For this to work, we all have to join hands," Lucy instructed. They all formed a circle. Jimmy had taken this opportunity to add something to the proceedings. He placed small devices on each of the Loud siblings' chests.

"These will help me monitor your life-signs during the procedure. Any sign of trouble, I'm terminating the link right here, right now," Jimmy asserted.

"Got it," Lucy acknowledged. She took a deep breath and, with Harriet whispering the incantation in her ear, she enacted the spell.

Forge the bonds

Weave the fabric

Throw the stone

Bestow the magic

She whispered this incantation over and over again. As she did so, the Louds connected to her felt empowered one by one, as if a warm current was flowing through them. But, as each Loud felt stronger, Lucy felt weaker. Around half-way through, Lucy's life-signs began to go critical. Alarms started going off.

"Stop this. Stop this now!" Jimmy ordered. When Cindy and Libby made to break the circle by force, Lucy projected a bubble around them. When Jimmy tried to stop the procedure remotely, Lucy used her power to force VOX to shut down. The siblings tried to let go, but Lucy forced their hands to remain held. Lynn could only watch on helplessly. Lucy was struggling to get the words out, visibly sweating as the effort to keep it up was getting too much for her. Still, she persisted. Once the last sibling had been empowered, Lucy finally let go and collapsed. Lynn caught her before she hit the floor. Everyone gathered around her.

"Get her on the couch, quick!" Jimmy directed. He had this couch for when Carl and Sheen would come over and watch movies or play video games when Jimmy wasn't using the lab for experiments, which was very rare, but he still made time for it. Once Lucy was laid down on the couch, Jimmy and Lisa took her vitals. The results were not good.

"She's got very faint life-signs, and they're fading fast. To put it simply, she's dying," Jimmy grimly told the other Loud siblings.

Author's note: Yes, I know, the Awakening spell is just the Whispering Spell in reverse, but that's the point. One reawakens magic, the other puts it to sleep. As for whether or not this can be applied to a whole realm, well, you'll have to wait and see for that. Also, for those wondering why Stanford is in Excalibur HQ, that'll be explained in my upcoming Gravity Falls fic featuring Mermando, title TBD. Another thought that's been bugging me over and over again is the thought of M-rated fics. True, I did initially say that I'd never write one, but lately, I've been thinking that the idea may seem fun. I'm not a big fan of horror or gore, so you'll get nothing from me in those genres, but I find myself thinking up scenarios in my head about how couples like Phineas and Isabella, or Milo and Amanda, have their 'first time'. Rest assured, if I do write something like this, that they will be of legal age. I alluded to this a lot in my QnA's, but never expanded on it, and that's been bugging me. The usual disclaimers, I own nothing. The Loud House and Jimmy Neutron belong to Nickelodeon, and Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, and SVTFOE, belong to Disney. Enjoy.


	5. Redemption

**Redemption**

At the Loud House, Albert and Stanford had portalled into the back yard and made their way to Lisa's bunker. Upon entry, Albert had felt his powers returning, and Stanford had noticed Albert's half-moon cheek marks when they arrived.

"Incredible. You have magic here, but not in our world," Stanford commented.

"It's a mystery, but every time I use my abilities here, it feels strange, almost foreign," Albert replied. Stanford thought about this for a moment.

"If I had to guess, I'd say you were tapping into a completely different Realm of Magic that is still intact," Stanford hypothesised.

"An interesting theory, but we don't have time to fully explore it now. Let's get what we came for and be on our way. I would like to avoid any more contact with what few Louds remain here," Albert noted. On the way, they noticed the memorial placed at the entrance to the bunker.

"I can understand that. Judging by all of this, they must be beside themselves with worry and grief," Stanford sympathised.

"I did tell them not to get involved. I should've known they would be so impulsive as to try this," Albert said remorsefully.

"If my experience with Dipper and Mabel has taught me anything, it's that children are unpredictable and often act on instinct and emotion, rather than rational thought," Stanford eased.

"I just hope they know what they're getting into. Fighting Bill is not a decision to be made lightly," Albert mused.

"Indeed, indeed," Stanford responded. He then pulled out a device that unlocked the entrance to the bunker in ten seconds flat. "Something I 'procured' from my days wandering the multiverse," Stanford added.

"I'm not going to ask you the define 'procured' since I probably already know the answer, and here I thought Stanley was the thief in the family," Albert said.

"All in the name of science, I assure you," Stanford replied. They went in and saw the wreckage that was once Lisa's portal device.

"Well, Stanford, is it like yours?" Albert asked. Stanford looked it over.

"It's similar in design and function, but this Lisa Loud has also added lots of other features I've never thought of. If that's so, then the records must be…ah, here they are," Stanford searched for a terminal that logged the Loud siblings' departure details, as well as a clue to what happened at the time of the accident.

"Plug this in. We should copy as much as we can so we can comb through it later," Albert handed Stanford a USB stick to transfer the data over. Stanford took the flash drive and started copying all relevant data, after using another one of his gadgets to brute force the password protection. Stanford was looking over the data already. Being a fast reader, he immediately got an idea as to what happened.

"Judging from what I've seen here, it looks like the Loud siblings went to a place called 'Retroville'. Apparently, Lisa has been in contact with yet another child genius called Jimmy for some time now. Doubtless, they went to him for help," Stanford summarised.

"Retroville? Never heard of it. Must be another Uncharted Realm," Albert responded. Stanford then looked at another portion of the data and was eager to report his findings.

"What happened to those other kids is also logged here before the system was forced to shut down. It seems the portal encountered some sort of anomaly and overloaded," Stanford concluded.

"What kind of anomaly?" Albert inquired.

"There's a holo-record, and the holo-emitters are still intact. I can display it, if you like," Stanford informed.

"Holo-emitters? Where does Lisa get this stuff or the money to build it? Never mind, proceed," Albert wondered. Stanford then proceeded to play the holo-record, and the bunker came to life with the images of events that took place before the accident. The kids Albert recognised from his time in Royal Woods as Sam and Benny, as well as the siblings Ronnie Anne and Bobby Santiago, were there too. With them was Sid, Ronnie Anne's best friend in Great Lakes City. Benny had just plugged in the machine when it started to overload. Warnings and alarms were going off, and the portal came to life violently, sucking them into an unknown world before shutting down. Stanford noticed something odd and rewound the playback. He paused the holo-images at the point when the portal came to life. He noticed what looked like a small crack in the portal.

"Interesting. It seems this crack in the fabric of space-time caused the machine to overload, somehow. According to these logs, the portal was supposed to take them to the last known coordinates, but instead, they got sent somewhere else," Stanford pieced together the events of the accident.

"Does it say where?" Albert probed. Stanford looked at the data again and drew a very surprising conclusion.

"It would appear they got sent to our world," Stanford revealed. This threw Albert for a loop but also gave him some small measure of hope.

"If they're in our world, I can have agents out looking for them in no time. Then, it's a simple matter of getting them home. Can we retrieve the coordinates for this Retroville place?" Albert asked.

"Everything's on here, although, this does raise a few questions," Stanford remarked.

"Such as?" Albert wondered.

"Is inter-dimensional travel still safe to use? What if what happened here could happen to our portal device?" Stanford postulated. As much as Albert wanted to bring the Louds home, if it is true that portal technology was no longer safe to use, the options for doing so became severely limited.

"We should return to the homeworld and discuss our options there. For now, let's focus on the other kids," Albert resolved. Stanford agreed, and Albert used his magic to portal the two of them back to Excalibur HQ.

At Jimmy's lab, the Louds were worried about Lucy. After enacting the Awakening Spell and granting them their dormant inherent magical abilities, Lucy was drained of all her energy as she lay within minutes of her life on Jimmy's couch. There was an eerie silence until Jimmy broke the ice.

"I think she'll be more comfortable in this," Jimmy suggested and activated a remote that turned the couch into a double bed.

"How long has this been a thing?" Carl asked in amazement. Jimmy was a little embarrassed to answer but did so anyway.

"Since I asked out Cindy. I hoped I could bring her down here and have some alone time with her on occasion," Jimmy replied sheepishly.

"Never mind that. How can we save Lucy?" Lori urged. Jimmy did not know how to answer that question in a way that would make the answer easy to hear, so he decided on the blunt, honest truth.

"I don't know. Medically, she's perfectly healthy, but for some reason my devices cannot explain, we're losing her," Jimmy stated sadly. The other Louds were visibly saddened by this news. "It's like she's lost the energy to carry on," Jimmy added. He paused for a second, then finished with the following statement. "I'll give you a few minutes," and Cindy, Libby, Carl, and Sheen followed him out.

"Tell me this is not happening, that this is some horrible nightmare," Lola said desperately.

"If it is, we're all having the same one," Luan rebutted. Lynn approached Lucy's bedside and took her hand.

"Did…..did it work?" Lucy panted.

"We're not sure yet, save your energy," Lynn replied. Lucy was visibly struggling to stay awake, the medical devices displayed her pulse dropping.

"Make it count," Lucy told Lynn and the others. Lucy then cupped Lynn's cheek in her hand. "I've never been more proud of this family than I am now," Lucy went on.

"Don't you dare. No way am I losing you again!" Lynn tried to get Lucy to hang on, but deep down, she knew it was no use.

"Look after them for me, Lynn. Keep them safe. Whatever comes your way, you'll face it together," Lucy requested.

"I will, Luce. My word, I will," Lynn promised. Lucy then slowly lost consciousness. "Don't go. Don't leave me, please," Lynn begged. There was no response, nor was there a dry eye in any of the Louds. Even Jimmy, Carl, Sheen, Cindy, and Libby, who were listening from the other side of the lab door, could not suppress their sadness for long. Leni, in her grief, could swear she was hallucinating.

"Guys, is it just me, or are there two Lucys?" Leni inquired. The others were curious. When they looked up, the Louds could also see a woman that looked like Lucy, only older and more spectral-looking.

"Is that Lucy's spirit waiting to move on or something?" Lana asked.

"No, I am not Lucy. Don't you recognise your great-grandmother when you see her?" Harriet responded. The mood changed from grieving to confusion.

"OK, what?" Luna remarked.

"If you all can see and hear me, then the spell was successful," Harriet observed.

"Then you taught her that spell. You're responsible for this!" Lynn blamed Harriet for Lucy's condition.

"Lucy knew the risks. Now be silent. I need to save my great grand-daughter," Harriet dismissed Lynn's outburst. She then knelt beside Lucy and whispered the Awakening Spell in her ear. As she did so, the medical devices attached to Lucy showed increased life-signs. When she was finished, Lucy was stabilised, but still unconscious.

"It is done. Now it is time for me to go. But stop Bill. Find out why the dimensions are collapsing in on themselves. This quest is not over yet," Harriet instructed before disappearing completely. The others came bursting into the room. Jimmy looked at his devices and relayed the good news that Lucy would make it out of this yet.

"I can't explain this. She should be dead by now," Jimmy said in disbelief. The Louds were just happy that Lucy is alive. They all hugged each other in relief, while Lisa took over Lucy's care.

"She'll need time to fully recover her strength, but I can safely say she's out of the woods," Lisa happily concluded.

"So, about that couch-bed you said was for us alone," Cindy changed the topic of conversation. Jimmy then started chuckling in embarrassment.

"Well, Libby did tell us to 'get a lab'," Jimmy responded.

"I didn't mean it literally!" Libby rebutted, and they all laughed. The commotion woke Lucy up from her slumber.

"Would you keep it down? I was trying to sleep," Lucy groaned. She tried to get up, but Lynn stopped her.

"Easy, Luce, you've been through quite an ordeal," Lynn soothed while gently laying Lucy back down. Lincoln decided to bring everyone back on to the business at hand.

"As relieved as I am that Lucy's going to be OK, need I remind you all that Calamitous needs our help?" Lincoln pressed. The rest of the group could not believe that, in the emotional rollercoaster that was Lucy's near-death experience, they had forgotten why she needed to enact the Awakening Spell in the first place. That being the fact that Calamitous has betrayed the League by stealing back Jimmy's portal device, with his daughter's help, and has now begged Jimmy for extraction, and to speed the Louds' empowerment, the Awakening Spell was necessary because Calamitous couldn't wait long.

"Now that Lucy's OK, the question is, did it work?" Luna inquired.

"What, seeing Great-Grandma Harriet's ghost wasn't enough evidence for you?" Lynn rebutted.

"I'm just saying, we will need to learn to use these powers if we have them. It's not like we could just snap our fingers and stuff happens," Luna argued. She made to snap her fingers when Jimmy stopped her.

"Woah, there. If you're going to snap fingers and practice magic, best not to do it in a lab full of unstable elements," Jimmy cautioned.

"Yeah, plus you don't want to accidentally make, I don't know, half of all people on Earth disappear or something," Sheen added.

"Seriously, Sheen, why would anyone want to do that, accidentally or otherwise?" Jimmy posited.

"All that aside, I caught a glimpse of how that Albert dude was able to conjure portals to pretty much anywhere. I think all we have to do is think about where we want to go and picture a portal there in our mind's eye, or something like that, and it'll appear," Luna theorised.

"It's worth a shot, but some of us should stay behind and see to Lucy. I don't want her coming with us, as she's in no shape to fight," Lori agreed. Carl and Sheen volunteered to watch over Lucy, as did Lisa.

"We've never been any good at the whole 'villain fighting' routine, anyway," Carl stated.

"Yeah, plus their lair is on a mountain in the Himalayas. Way too cold for my liking, although it may suit the Ice Prince just fine," Sheen said to Lincoln, who looked quite annoyed.

"I thought this joke had died. One of these days, you are going to have to show me this cartoon you're so obsessed with," Lincoln responded.

"I have the whole thing on DVR," Sheen replied.

"I should hang back, too. I doubt the League responds to funky dance moves," Libby added.

"Well, I'm going with Jimmy. He'd be lost without me, plus someone with hand-to-hand combat skills should go," Cindy bragged.

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Lynn remarked.

"OK, fine, two people with hand-to-hand combat skills should go," Cindy quickly retracted.

"OK, Luna, try portalling us there," Lori urged. Luna took a few deep breaths, closed her eyes and said to herself "A mountain in the Himalayas. Calamitous is waiting outside,". She then outstretched her hand and pictured a portal there in her mind. To everyone's astonishment, one appeared in front of them. They could even see Calamitous pacing up and down. When he turned and saw the portal, he jumped in fright.

"OK, Jimmy, that's exceptional even by your standards," Calamitous complimented.

"Wasn't me, Professor. I don't have time to explain. Where's…your daughter?" Jimmy asked. He almost said 'where's Beautiful Gorgeous', but even he had enough social grace to know that referring to her as such would not be appropriate in front of her father.

"On her way, hopefully, with your portal device, although from what I've seen here, you do not require one," Calamitous answered.

"So, we do have powers. When do we get to the butt-kicking?" Lola probed.

"Got to agree with the princess here. I'm eager to throw down," Lynn added. They all stepped through the portal to Calamitous' lair, except Carl, Sheen, Libby, Lucy, and Lisa, nervously waiting for the inevitable battle to come.

"Jimmy, I'm not going to ask why you're travelling with a bunch of self-proclaimed witches, but if they indeed have magical talent, that'll be an advantage we'll sorely need. We should wait inside, at least. Don't want to get hypothermia on top of facing almost your entire rogues gallery," Calamitous suggested. They all went inside the lair. Thankfully, there was no-one in sight. Lola began to make small talk in an attempt to calm her nerves.

"Nice place you have here, although personally, I would've gone for somewhere on the Hawaiian Islands. Sun, surf, and surfers galore," Lola fantasised.

"Well, it was cheap," Calamitous responded.

"Why? Did the previous owner freeze to death?" Luan asked. It was then that Calamitous heard something in the distance. It sounded like footsteps, running in the distance. Whoever was making those running steps quickly emerged, and Beautiful Gorgeous, otherwise known as Georgia Calamitous, came sprinting from the shadows in a hurry.

"I managed to get the device back, but the evil clone got the jump on me and….hey, how did you get here so fast?" Georgia inquired.

"Never mind how we got here. Now that we have what we came for, we should leave in a hurry," Calamitous urged.

"Going somewhere?!" came a voice from behind. They turned around to see King Goobot, leading the other villains. Although they were the enemy, Lana could not help but admire Goobot and especially the Junkman, the former for being so slimy, and the latter for being so grimy.

"Oh, he's so slimy! Can I play with him? Can I, can I, can I?" Lana begged.

"No, you may not! I have to say, Calamitous, I am very disappointed in you. You're one of the League's founding members. How could you go turncoat on us like this? I mean, bringing Neutron to our doorstep, along with his gang of girl-scouts, come on!" Goobot rebutted.

"I have to say, Jimmy, for female company, I am decidedly unimpressed. Doesn't that one know the pink pageant princess look died out at the turn of the millennium?" Eustace chided at Lola, who got really angry at the comment.

"Give me five minutes alone with pretty-boy over there, please, I beg you," Lola seethed.

"Bring it on, shrimp! The boot I'll squash you with is worth more than your entire wardrobe!" Eustace continued to fling insults at Lola. It was then that Lola spotted an empty room to her left.

"Is anyone using this room?" Lola asked Calamitous, who gestured to Lola giving her permission to use it. "I'll be a little while" Lola said to the others. Using her new powers, she conjured up a lasso, used it to tie Eustace's ankles together, dragged him into the empty room and shut the door. "This may get a little loud," Lola warned.

"Alright, girlie, you're going to pay for….what are you doing?" Eustace was threatening Lola, but his tone shifted for some unknown reason.

"You see, Eustace, was it? What I'm going to do to you, if I were to show it, this story would warrant an M-rating, so sit tight and let Mama Lola work," Lola taunted. All that could be heard next were crunching noises and Eustace screaming in agony.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHH. OOOOOWWWWW, OW, OOOOOOWWWWW. Doesn't this violate the Geneva Convention?" Eustace asked in desperation.

"GENEVA AIN'T HERE NOW!" Lola responded and continued her implied torture. The door to the empty room opened and Eustace, with a panicked look on his face, was trying to flee.

"Help me, please!" Eustace begged, but Lola dragged him back in.

"Look, I'll pay you anything. Just let me leave!" Eustace bargained.

"Why would I want cash when the fun part's just getting started," Lola menaced.

"No, what is that?!" Eustace probed, scared to know the answer.

"Oh, this? It's a little something I call the NUTCRACKER!" Lola replied. Eustace then screamed in sheer terror.

"I SURRENDER! YOU'RE TOTALLY STYLISH! PLEASE DON'T USE THAT THING!" Eustace conceded.

"That is one vicious little girl," Cindy commented. Eustace then came racing out of the room, ran past the other League members and proceeded to dash as far away from Lola as his legs could carry him.

"In our family, Lola's considered the gentle one," Lori told the other League members. Goobot then started having second thoughts about engaging Jimmy's new entourage.

"Can't we negotiate? Avoid that same unpleasantness? I'm sure you can be very reasonable. Please?" Goobot pleaded. Jimmy, Cindy, and the Louds were having none of it. They started charging the League members, eager to test their new abilities. Lana was up against Goobot. Using her new-found powers, Lana launched herself into the air, landed on Goobot's dome, then proceeded to crack the glass until it shattered. If that wasn't bad enough for Goobot, Lana then used telekinesis to morph his slimy form into the shape of a guitar.

"Hey, Lunes. Could I have some guitar lessons?" Lana called. Luna, very impressed by Lana's display of skill, then proceeded to show her some basic chords.

"I am a King, not your plaything!" Goobot demanded to be released from this humiliation.

"Quiet! Instruments don't talk, they sing, and only when we make them!" Luna rebuffed. It was then that Baby Eddie approached them. Luna then had an idea. She took the Goobot-guitar from Lana and played a lullaby with it.

"You think that's gonna work on me, punk! I'll…I'll…" but Baby Eddie could not finish his sentence as he found himself falling asleep right then and there.

"Babysitting 101. Works every time," Luna said. She then portalled Baby Eddie back into his crib at his home, wished him sweet dreams, and carried on with the battle at hand. Next up was Grandma Taters against Lynn Loud. While Lynn was initially eager to kick butt and take names, she was hesitant to fight someone who looked like an old lady.

"Oh, aren't you adorable. Why don't I knit you a sweater…that'll squeeze every ounce of air from your weak lungs!" Taters switched from caring old lady to menacing alien personas on a dime, and suddenly Lynn's reservations went out the window. She used her power to summon up some magical brass knuckles by blowing on them. In turn, Taters got out her nunchaku. Cindy stepped in to assist, and between the two of them, they were able to swiftly overpower Taters as a double team. Lynn then conjured up some rope to bind Taters' hands with. She poofed away her magical knuckles and gave Cindy a fist bump as a thank you for the assistance, and congratulations on a job well done. The two girls then broke out into a victory dance.

The Junkman soon found himself the last man standing. Lori and Leni took the lead on this one. Repulsed by his filthiness and stench, Lori imagined a jet of water hitting him, and just like that, one came bursting from her hands, only the water was more soapy than usual. Leni, seeing where Lori was going with this, used her power to rotate the Junkman on the spot.

"Be sure to wash behind his ears," Georgia egged on the duo. Finished with their hosing, Leni then conjured up a rain cloud and it started drizzling on the Junkman.

"Rinse cycle," Leni quipped. Lori then conjured a huge gust of wind to dry him off. After all that, the Junkman just sat there, looking utterly humiliated. Georgia and her father were quite impressed with how the Louds easily overtook the League.

"I must say, Jimmy, this lot are incredible. It seems I made the right choice calling you for help," Calamitous complimented.

"I should've known you'd have no spine," came an all too familiar voice. It was Jimmy's evil clone, who was limping quite a bit. It seems Georgia got a few licks in before making her get-away. "I've also got something to say, betraying the Billster seems like quite a stupid move on your part," Evil Jimmy added.

"Not as stupid as going along with his crazy plan in the first place!" Calamitous remarked.

"Oh, and who was it that introduced us all to him in the first place? Let me think, ah, it was you. If anything, this is all your fault!" Evil Jimmy countered. Calamitous knew this to be true. This was all his fault, there was no denying that.

"You're right. I was the first to sign on with Bill in hopes of a quick end to Neutron. I was the one who brought him into the League. The consequences for my lack of judgment are mine alone to bear but to do nothing while Bill destroys the multi-verse would be just as wrong as helping him do it. I have a lot to make up for, but I hope this is the first step on a long journey towards atonement," Calamitous admitted. Everyone, even Jimmy, could not help but be a little touched by Calamitous' speech.

"How cute. But you know the penalty for betrayal, teach," Evil Jimmy said. He took out his energy sword and made to strike a fatal blow when Jimmy got in between them, his own blade drawn and intercepted the blow.

"Well, well, well. The original. Defending this traitor, are we? In a way, this is what I wanted. I never did repay you for trying to ice me," Evil Jimmy goaded. When Cindy and the Louds stepped in to help, Jimmy stopped them.

"No, this one's mine," Jimmy stated. Evil Jimmy laughed maniacally.

"You do realise we're both equal in terms of brains and brawn? There's no way you can win," Evil Jimmy argued.

"Yeah, and by that logic, neither can you win as well," Jimmy countered.

"Ah, but there you're wrong, genius. You see, you have something I don't, limitations. You'll never strike me down because your conscious won't allow it. I have no such restrictions," Evil Jimmy teased. With that, the duel between the two look-alikes began. Both were evenly matched, meeting each other's blows and strikes with equally well-timed blocks and dodges. It was a stalemate, until the other was disarmed or tired. Soon enough, Evil Jimmy had normal Jimmy up against the wall.

"Had enough yet?" Evil Jimmy taunted.

"Please. Cindy fights better than you," Jimmy shot back, and the duel continued. Again, they were evenly matched, until Jimmy noticed an opening. He then delivered a sweeping kick to Evil Jimmy's legs and swung his blade hard enough to knock it from his hand, and he pointed the blade directly at his evil clone's throat. However, instead of fear, Evil Jimmy just laughed.

"I was right before, you don't have the guts to do it, and you were going to help those sorry witches kill someone? How pathetic!" Evil Jimmy affirmed. Normal Jimmy then took out a device he had brought with him.

"I don't have to. This Recombiner will merge the two of us together again. You'll be a part of me once again," Jimmy explained.

"Can you handle it, though? My darkness inside of you. How long before you end up like me?" Evil Jimmy asked.

"At least I have friends to keep me good," Jimmy concluded and activated his Recombiner. The two Jimmys were fused into one, and Evil Jimmy was no more. Jimmy felt a little weird after the process but was altogether normal once again, although the effort expended during the fight had mildly exhausted him.

Now that the League was dispatched and the portal device returned to Jimmy safe and sound, it was time to leave, but before they did, Calamitous had one burning question he had been meaning to ask.

"I have to confess, I'd thought you would've dismissed my message as a trap and not come at all. So, I have to ask, why did you?" Calamitous inquired. Jimmy thought about this.

"Because, despite everything you've done, you're still a fellow scientist, and if my friendship with Lisa has taught me anything, it's that we scientists have to stick together. If you weren't evil, we'd probably be best friends like me and her," Jimmy answered.

"It's not too late. If you renounce your evil ways and begin to make things right, I could see that happening," Lincoln assured. Calamitous then developed a small tear in his eye.

"You know, all my life, I've wanted friends like yours," Calamitous said with a hint of regret.

"Well, this is a step in the right direction. Despite everything, I wish you luck on your path to atonement," Jimmy replied. Luna summoned another portal back to the lab and all the Louds and Cindy stepped through, their mission a success.

"Come into my lab, friend," Jimmy ushered Calamitous, but for some unknown reason, he wasn't moving, and he was wearing an expression of mortal terror, hyperventilating all the while. Jimmy and Georgia were confused until they spotted another portal behind him, and from it emerged a dark-robed figure Calamitous and Georgia were hoping would never show up.

"That's not good, is it?" Jimmy probed.

"No, it's him," Georgia replied with the same level of fear as her father. Bill closed the portal to Jimmy's lab and approached Calamitous from behind.

"You have betrayed me, Calamitous," Bill stated. It was at that point Calamitous knew what would come next.

"I'm sorry, Jim," was all Calamitous could come out with before Bill struck him down with his scepter, dealing the killing blow.

"Why you!" Georgia raged and ran at Bill, only to be zapped with lightning coming from Bill's hand and thrown across the room like a ragdoll. Bill then turned his attention to Jimmy.

"You have two options, child. Hand me the device, or die here along with your former enemy," Bill gave his chilling ultimatum. Jimmy, despite being paralysed with fear, stood strong. He attempted to fire some stun darts at Bill from his hi-tech watch, only for Bill to swat those away and telekinetically lift Jimmy into the air and choke him. "You have chosen death. So be it," Bill said. Back at the lab, the others were frantically wondering why the portal suddenly shut behind them and also worrying about Jimmy.

"He was right behind you, wasn't he?" Cindy asked the sisters.

"I don't know what happened," Luna responded. It was at that point Lucy got up.

"He's here," Lucy said ominously. The Louds knew she was referring to Bill, and it was most likely he was with Jimmy right now. Luna tried to open a portal back to the lair but found that she could not.

"Bill must be blocking us," Luna surmised.

"We have to get back! Jimmy is literally in a life-or-death situation," Lori urged. Speaking of the boy genius, back at the lair, Jimmy was having the life choked out of him until Goddard came up to Bill and bit him with his metal jaw, delivering a shock that caused him to momentarily let go of Jimmy. Bill tossed Goddard aside, but he had bought Jimmy enough time to think of an escape plan.

"Goddard, FlyCycle mode," Jimmy commanded and Goddard turned into an air bike that, once Jimmy was on board, sped away from Bill at maximum speed. Bill, not wanting the portal device on Jimmy's person to get away, then proceeded to bring the entire lair down around them to trap Jimmy. He barely had enough time to swing back around to pick up Georgia before Bill was beginning to gain on them. Before Jimmy and Georgia could make it to the exit, Bill had managed to block their escape with some debris, shoot down Jimmy's FlyCycle with a well-aimed bolt of lightning and telekinetically trap Jimmy in place.

"Surrender the portal," Bill demanded.

"Never!" Jimmy retorted.

"Very well, then," Bill acknowledged. He then used his power to make Jimmy's blade fly out of his pocket, come to life, and stabbed Jimmy right in the chest, making him scream in agonising pain. Jimmy clutched the part of his chest that Bill had wounded for dear life. Just then, Bill was distracted by something, or someone else. In the commotion, Lucy had portalled in unseen.

"Try picking on someone who can fight at your level," Lucy goaded and shot magical blasts out of her hands at Bill, who shielded them with ease, then knocked Lucy back.

"Ah yes, you fight with such ferocity and anger. You would've been unstoppable were you still the Dread Mistress," Bill attempted to sway Lucy back to his side. Lucy, however, shot lightning of her own at Bill, which actually forced him back, albeit not very much.

"She's better than that," Jimmy countered, still in immense pain.

"Is she now? I can feel her desire to destroy me inside of her," Bill rebuffed. This caused Lucy to pause her assault and take a hard look at herself. True, she and her sisters came here to stop Bill, but was it out of a sense of justice, or was it purely for revenge?

"One last time, hand me the portal and I'll save your friend, or you can watch him die before I finish you off," Bill offered.

"Or I can trigger the base's self-destruct, then you, me, and everyone else will go together," Georgia said while still weak from Bill's attack on her.

"That's a little desperate, don't you think?" Bill teased.

"Better than letting you destroy the multi-verse," Georgia replied. The lair's computer then spoke:

SELF-DESTRUCT IN FIVE MINUTES. THERE WILL BE NO FURTHER AUDIO WARNINGS

"What's it going to be, Bill? The portal, or your life?" Georgia asked. Bill had no choice but to retreat, but he left the League behind.

"What about us?!" Goobot inquired desperately. Bill's voice then echoed throughout the lair.

"You saps have proven yourselves useless by failing to handle a bunch of girls. Why would I need you when I have other, more capable henchmen. Stay here and die," Bill replied before vanishing completely. Lucy then rushed over to Georgia and Jimmy.

"You can only save one of us. Take Jimmy and get out of here," Georgia instructed. Begrudgingly, Lucy did so. She portalled Jimmy back into the lab. Before going through herself, she said a few parting words to Georgia.

"I'll make sure people know what you did here," Lucy promised and stepped through the portal to safety. Georgia then took one last look around the lair.

"Funny, I always wanted to be a magician's assistant," Georgia mused to herself before the lair exploded.

Back at the lab, Lucy was carrying a wounded Jimmy on her shoulder through the portal, and everyone was rushing to his aid.

"What happened?!" Cindy probed.

"We ran into Bill, and barely escaped with our lives. Someone help him," Lucy answered, and it was all hands on deck. Jimmy was propped onto the couch-bed and Lisa was checking him over.

"Bill really drove that blade in deep. He's losing a lot of blood and I don't have the equipment here to stabilise him," Lisa observed. Lucy then had an idea.

"Use your power. With your knowledge of human physiology and new-found magical ability, that would make you the best healer here, and not in one of Lincoln's stupid online games," Lucy suggested. Lisa groaned.

"Magic doesn't exist. I can't just wave my hands around and fix him up like that," Lisa dismissed.

"You have to try, please," Cindy begged.

"Oh, fine," Lisa conceded. He lifted Jimmy's shirt and put her hands over the wound. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pictured the wound healing in her mind. Given that she was an expert on the human body, it was easy for her mind to repair the damage. As she did this, her hands glowed a shiny yellow colour, and the rest saw that Jimmy's mortal wound was healing rapidly. When it was finished, Jimmy took a deep breath and woke up. He felt around the area and was astonished when he found there was no wound there at all, although there was a visible scar where it had been.

"Thanks, Lisa," Jimmy said in gratitude. Lisa had no words. None of them did. Cindy, however, was immensely grateful that Jimmy was alive and hugged him so tight not even a crowbar could separate them.

"The area may be a little sensitive for a few days, so try not to push yourself too hard," Lisa cautioned. It was at that point Jimmy's computer came to life on its own. A recorded message from Calamitous started playing.

"If you're hearing this, then the worst has happened and Bill has caught up with me. I knew this would be a possibility when I decided to go against him. I only hope that you are the one viewing this message, Jimmy. Like you, I have been investigating the rifts that have been appearing in Retroville, and I think I know where they're coming from. There is a dimension, or to be more precise, two dimensions that have been fused into one world, that started forming these cracks in the fabric of the multi-verse when they became merged, or 'cleaved' as Bill put it. I believe that the key to fixing this catastrophe lies there. I had hoped to go myself as a way to atone for my past crimes, but it is most likely Bill's intervention will pause those plans for me indefinitely. I am asking you to go there and stop this madness. I have attached dimensional co-ordinates to this message to help you get there. Maybe the key to stopping Bill once and for all lies in this fused world as well, and he needs to be stopped, because he plans to fuse more worlds, all the worlds, together into a realm in his image. Go, Jimmy, and finish what I started," the message ended. Jimmy dug through the message files and found the co-ordinates.

"In a few hours, I should be able to retrofit my space car to enable it to travel to this 'fused world'. Calamitous is right, this has to end," Jimmy resolved.

"Well, I guess we have our new heading, but we still haven't decided what we're going to do when we encounter Bill again. If this battle has taught us anything, it's that even with powers, we're still no match for him," Lori added. Jimmy then came to a conclusion he thought he'd never come to.

"Whatever objections I had to helping you end Bill, consider them retracted. Calamitous was right about one other thing, he needs to be defeated, no, destroyed, before he harms anyone else," Jimmy affirmed.

"Then you're not going alone. We're coming, and there's no way you're talking us out of it," Cindy asserted.

"Yeah, Team Neutron, together forever!" Sheen cheered.

"Don't forget Team Loud," Lincoln chimed in. Jimmy chuckled a little.

"Then I guess we have work to do," Jimmy said, and the two teams began work on upgrading Jimmy's space car. Jimmy had miniaturised his portal so it could act as an emitter to generate a portal using a control inside the vehicle. Lisa had reinforced the hull so it could survive any potential stresses of inter-dimensional travel, while Leni and Libby took to interior décor, upgrading the car's seating capacity to accommodate all of them. With the work finished, everyone took their seats and Jimmy fired up the car, launched them into space and fired the portal emitter. The plan was to travel across dimensions while they were in orbit to avoid scaring any locals of this fused world. The portal was just ahead of them.

"Ready?" Jimmy asked everyone.

"No, but do it anyway," Carl replied, and Jimmy drove the car through the portal, not knowing what awaited them on the other side.

At Excalibur HQ, Albert was busy looking over the data they pulled from Lisa's now-defunct portal device. Given this latest discovery, Albert had no choice but to suspend all inter-dimensional excursions indefinitely. He had sent a copy of the data pulled to Phineas, in the hopes that he would be able to come up with safety measures to prevent a re-occurrence of the accident that displaced Sam, Benny, Ronnie Anne, Bobby, and Sid. He would've updated Major Smith, but he seemed to be unreachable at this present time. He also sent dossiers of those missing kids to all his agents in the field, with instructions that said if they were found, they were to be brought to the Institute.

"Do you really think we'll find them, Captain?" Kilstone asked his superior.

"I hope so. It's a mad world out there," Albert answered.

"Even if we do, we can't send them home, given what we've discovered," Kilstone replied.

"No, but we can keep them safe. That should be enough for now," Albert concluded.

Author's note: How about that, another story finished. This chapter ended up longer than my usual standard. Please don't expect this, it was just a fluke. I never did get anyone's opinion on what I discussed in my last chapter's note. I'll hold off on writing those M-rated romantic one-shots until after all this is finished. Don't know when that will be, but it's something to think about. The usual disclaimers, I own nothing, Jimmy Neutron and The Loud House belong to Nickelodeon. Enjoy, and also enjoy these post-credit scenes:

Jimmy's space car emerged from the other side of the portal, in orbit around what should be a parallel Earth, only upon arrival, all noticed that it looked very odd.

"I thought you said we'd be above planet Earth, so where's this?" Carl inquired.

"I double-checked the co-ordinates five times. According to these readings, we are above a parallel Earth," Jimmy answered.

"Then why does it look like something out of one of Lola's storybooks?" Lana asked.

"Things here must be worse than I thought," Jimmy mused to himself. Just then, something came up on the monitors.

"There's another spacecraft heading towards the planet. It seems to be in a state of severe disrepair," Lisa notified.

"Lifesigns?" Jimmy probed.

"That's the odd bit, they're mostly human, with one platypus on board," Lisa responded.

"It's heading towards the planet on a collision course. Does this thing have a tractor beam?" Cindy suggested. Jimmy fiddled with some controls.

"Here it is," Jimmy said and activated the beam, halting the other craft's crash course. But the beam started flickering on and off. "Don't look at me, I just adjusted the beam emitters when we left," Jimmy remarked.

"I have a better explanation. One of the lifesigns is emitting large quantities of negative probability ions," Lisa outlined. Jimmy then made some adjustments.

"That should compensate for the ions, but we'll have to descend along with the craft," Jimmy explained. Soon, they and the tractored craft were making their descent to the strange world.

"There, is that a landing pad down below? Looks like someone was expecting us," Lynn observed. There was indeed a landing structure, but the strange part was that it was situated in someone's backyard.

"According to these maps, we should be landing somewhere in the Tri-State Area," Jimmy stated.

"Errrr, yeah, this doesn't look like any Tri-State Area I know," Lori countered. As they looked out of their windows, they saw that the world before them was a lot stranger than their own.

This is the second scene:

With the guardian of the crystal prison out of commission, it was easy for Bill to waltz right in and find the one crystallised prisoner he was looking for. After a good search, he eventually found what he came for. Now it was only a matter of liberating him, although the prisoner in question might give him a cold reception. Bill placed a hand on the crystal structure and spoke.

"I know our last partnership did not end in your favour, old friend, but I need your expertise now. You see, Star has done what you couldn't do and destroyed magic, or so she thinks. But now, forces are moving to undo the damage she's done, the world she's created, and with the help of denizens from the Uncharted Realms of all places, they might just be successful. We need your expertise in magic destruction once more. There is another Realm of Magic out there, hidden, but well-guarded, and you're the best I have. What do you say, want to give me another chance?" Bill said. The crystal then began to crack, slowly but surely. When it had cracked enough, a small, reptilian fist punched through from the other side. When the crystal has shattered completely, the smartly dressed Septarian that had been imprisoned within it stepped over the threshold.

"Go on," Toffee replied, with intrigue.

Here's the third scene:

Mr. and Mrs. Loud were perplexed by the visitors at first, but upon letting them into their home and explaining what had happened, after hearing the two strangers offer their assistance in getting their kids home safe and sound, it felt like a huge weight was lifted off their shoulders. There was just one burning question they had to ask.

"I don't get it. Without a portal device, how can you two travel between worlds so freely?" Lynn Loud Sr. probed.

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," the first stranger, a boy, answered.

"But rest assured, we will get all your children home in one piece. We realise how distressing this must be for you," the second stranger, a young woman, added. They made to leave the Loud House, when Rita had another question.

"I don't think we ever got your names. Who are you two?" Rita asked. The two then turned to face them.

"My name is Aang," the boy responded.

"And I'm Korra," the young woman also replied.

Here's the fourth and last scene:

Eclipsa, Globgor, and Meteora were taking a well-deserved break from meetings with the Patrons and Excalibur to enjoy some family bonding time. It had been too long since they had a day like this, even before the Cleaving. It was some time before Meteora noticed something that caught her eye. She crawled over to it and examined it with curiosity. It was a portal, but not one she'd ever seen before. Before anyone could react, two girls came falling through from the other side.

"Meteora" Eclipsa called out. She found her child, along with the unconscious girls. "Globgor, come quick!" Eclipsa urged. The three found the pair, one with a hoodie like Marco, but purple instead of red, and the other in a blue, long-sleeved shirt. At the same time, Marco and Star were having a backyard barbecue with the Diaz family, when a portal came from no-where, only this one spat out a teenage boy in green flannel. He was pretty out of it when he saw Star.

"Oh, Babe! I knew I'd find you" Bobby said in his half-delusional state, hugging Star awkwardly before passing out.

"OK, what?" Marco asked, confused as to what just happened.

At Moon and River's community, River was out fishing by the lake, when he noticed a similar portal, only this one spat out a boy and a girl, right into the water. After fishing the two out of the water, admittedly not what River was hoping for, he brought them to Moon.

"River, what is going on here, and who are they?" Moon inquired, seeing the two teens River had brought back with him. One had a teal streak through her blonde hair, and the other, the boy, was in a blue shirt and gray jeans. Both teens were soaking wet and would catch a cold in those clothes. Moon and River lit a fire and moved them next to it in the hopes of staving off hypothermia.


End file.
